First Deputy Prime Minister Mikalai Snapkou met today with Deputy Governor of China’s Gansu Province Wang Bing. Welcoming the guest, the first deputy prime minister noted the region’s assistance during the pandemic. The main purpose of the visit is to prepare an interregional forum.
“Gansu Province and the people of Gansu hold a special place in Belarusian-Chinese relations. Few people remember this now, but we remember it and will always remember it. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Gansu became the first province of the People’s Republic of China to provide Belarus with medical supplies to combat the virus and traditional Chinese medicine for treatment and prevention. And I am not exaggerating at all when I say that these medicines truly saved many lives in Belarus,” Snapkou said.
He said he viewed the Chinese official’s visit as a continuation of friendship and mutual support. He expressed hope for “a qualitatively new breakthrough in relations and reaching a qualitatively new level of cooperation between Gansu Province and Hrodna Region.”
Snapkou also referred to the friendship between Lukashenka and Xi Jinping. According to him, it serves as “a powerful foundation” for cooperation, while economic relations should rise to the level of political and human ties.
The first deputy prime minister added that a directive titled “On the Practical Implementation of the All-Weather and Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Between the Republic of Belarus and the People’s Republic of China” had recently been signed.
“This is an internal document. It serves as a handbook for our leaders in achieving the set goals of cooperation with the People’s Republic of China in investment and trade-economic areas. It is a work plan. As a financier, I think you know that the most important thing is a proper financial plan. And the mechanisms for implementing our forecasts and development plans are in many ways similar to those of the People’s Republic of China. It is through the planning system that we differ; our economic models differ from those of other countries and, broadly speaking, the rest of the world. Development plans remain in few places. As Comrade Xi Jinping said at the Asian Forum in 2022, a governed state is always prosperous, while a state in chaos is always poor. Therefore, interregional cooperation occupies a special place in the directive adopted by the President of the Republic of Belarus on developing relations between Belarus and China. During this five-year period, we are introducing the principle of applied cooperation — holding practical interregional forums. And the Gansu–Hrodna Region interregional forum will be the first, and I very much hope it will become exemplary,” Snapkou said.
He added that with a strong China, Belarus would also be strong, and therefore interregional forums would be worked through in practical terms and held regularly.
“Every year we will hold one or two forums. And their goal, frankly speaking, is the signing of concrete investment contracts for the entry, active entry, of Chinese enterprises into the Republic of Belarus to implement industrial development projects. This is my main task and the main assignment given to me by the president of our country. At our Belarusian-Chinese regional forum, which will take place in the city of Lanzhou in Gansu Province, I very much hope that together we will be able to sign real contracts and real investment projects for a more active and large-scale entry of enterprises from Gansu Province into Hrodna Region,” he concluded.
