On September 13, 2017, Weichai Power Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of China Weichai Group, and Belarusian Maz Group formally established the Weichai Maz joint venture in Minsk, and held a groundbreaking ceremony in the "Jushi" China-Belarus Industrial Park on the same day , Becoming the twentieth enterprise stationed in the China-Belarus Industrial Park. Tan Xuguang said that the foundation laying of the Weichai Maz joint venture is not only a major event in the history of the development of Shandong Heavy Industry Weichai Group and Maz Group, but also a happy event in the friendly cooperation between China and Belarus.

According to reports, Belarus is one of the first European countries to respond to China's call to participate in the joint construction of the Belt and Road. The China-Belarus Industrial Park is the most important economic and trade cooperation project between China and Belarus, and it is also a landmark project on the Silk Road Economic Belt. . After seven years of construction, the Sino-Belarusian Jushi Industrial Park has almost become an independent modern city, a new business card of Belarus, and a shining pearl along the Belt and Road.

The Rise of China-Belarus Jushi Industrial Park

The Sino-Belarusian Industrial Park is located in Smolevich District, Minsk Region, Belarus, 25 kilometers away from the capital Minsk, close to the international airport, and the Berlin-Moscow intercontinental highway passes through the park. The main industrial positioning of the park is a high-tech industrial park focusing on machinery manufacturing, electronic information, fine chemicals, biomedicine, new materials, warehousing and logistics. The park is planned with production and residential areas, office and commercial and entertainment complexes, financial and scientific research centers. According to the plan, the overall planning area of the park is 91.5 square kilometers, the land use period is 99 years, and the land area of the first phase is 8.5 square kilometers. In 2010, the establishment was proposed by the President of Belarus Lukashenko. As the largest investment cooperation project between China and Belarus, China holds 60% of the shares and White holds 40% of the shares.

The Sino-Belarusian Industrial Park is a flagship project of cooperation between the two countries, and is also a benchmark project for China to advocate the construction of Silk Road Economic Belt cooperation. It is also one of the most promising projects in Belarus today. Ten years ago, the construction of the park was just an idea; now, investors can enjoy preferential business terms here. Aleksandr Yaroshenko, Director of the Management Committee of the China-Belarus Industrial Park, recalled how precious the industrial park was when it was first built. In 2010, China and Belarus proposed to establish a commercial platform to promote cross-border investment; in 2014, the China-Belarus Industrial Park held a groundbreaking ceremony; one year later, the first batch of settled companies obtained registration permits; on May 12, 2015, The industrial park welcomed the leaders of the two countries and celebrated its first birthday.

Zhongbai Industrial Park is located in Jushi Village, so it was named Jushi Industrial Park. The first phase of the construction of the park covers an area of 850 hectares, and the completion time is one year ahead of the original plan. Yaroshenko said: “We invested about 260 million US dollars and completed all the infrastructure construction in four years. We used the idea of planning a large city to plan the roads, communications and everything here for investors. Our entry has created prerequisites." The preliminary preparations for the industrial park have successfully attracted 62 companies from 15 countries. Yaroshenko said: "Our settled companies are from the European Union, the United States, Russia, Switzerland, Israel, UAE, etc. The geographical diversification fully supports the internationalization of the industrial park. We welcome investors from any country. There are 62 settled companies. In China, 22 companies have built factories here, and have begun to produce products, provide services and conduct research and development. The China-Belarus Industrial Park has become widely known and has become a demonstration project of the Belt and Road Initiative."

The Sino-Belarusian Industrial Park is also a special economic zone, where investors can enjoy many exclusive benefits, such as tax and tariff concessions, and relatively loose requirements during the construction and production stages. An innovative R&D business center in the park is also about to be completed, which will provide a powerful springboard for start-ups. Yaroshenko said, “The ideas generated from this R&D center will be used by companies from any country in their projects. We have gathered a group of investors who are interested in providing technical and financial support for this project. I am willing to pay for this because it will promote major technological breakthroughs and the development of future innovations."

At the same time, in order to create a barrier-free administrative environment, the park has built a one-stop service system, and all administrative procedures can be completed in the park. In terms of management, the development of the Sino-Belarusian Industrial Park draws on the experience of the Suzhou Industrial Park system and establishes a three-level management structure. The first level establishes a coordination committee between the Chinese and Belarusian governments to coordinate the affairs of the park; Park Management Committee; The third level is the establishment of a park development company funded by Chinese and foreign shareholders. It is reported that White has issued three editions of the Presidential Decree in 2012, 2014 and 2017, giving preferential policies to the park in the form of the country's highest legislative form. On the basis of the previous two editions of the Presidential Decree, the latest edition of the 2017 Presidential Decree further strengthened the preferential policies and provided a policy model for overseas economic and trade cooperation zones.

It is worth mentioning that not all employees need to commute. Many employees have already moved into the first residential building in the industrial park. The whole building includes 156 apartments with panoramic windows and a full set of furniture and appliances. There are also shops, medical stations and post offices on the ground floor. Currently, nearly 584 million U.S. dollars has been invested in the enterprise construction and commercial infrastructure of the China-Belarus Industrial Park. Community infrastructure such as residential, retail and catering will also be promoted more efficiently. The industrial park will not only have a residential building, but will form an urban block. The construction of kindergartens, schools and clinics has been designed and planned, and is expected to be completed in 2025. In the future, the China-Belarus Industrial Park will become the home of more than 130,000 people. It is not a simple industrial park, but a smart, environmentally friendly and comfortable future city. At present, Belarus has begun to lay railways to connect the existing railway network and terminals. At the same time, it is also preparing to build a fast track between Minsk and the National Airport, passing through the China-Belarusian Industrial Park to facilitate the commuting of staff in the park. In the future, a fast tram service will be provided.

68 companies have settled in

As we all know, investment in overseas industrial parks is sometimes a dilemma. Some overseas industrial parks will lower the threshold and modify the industrial positioning of the park when the investment promotion is not going well. However, the Sino-Belarusian Industrial Park is known for strictly implementing the industrial positioning of the park when attracting investment. Enterprises that do not meet the industrial orientation cannot enter the China-Belarus Industrial Park, and those that do not meet the industrial orientation but lack high-tech capabilities cannot enter. It is understood that the China-Belarus Industrial Park focuses on attracting five leading industries of electronic information, machinery manufacturing, fine chemicals, new materials, and biomedicine, and speeds up the construction of supporting service systems such as warehousing and logistics. The investment promotion of the China-Belarus Industrial Park has focused on high technology and innovation from the very beginning. Yaroshenko pointed out, “Our first task is to identify and judge which industries will reshape the future economy. Facts have proved that our chosen business areas, such as electronics, new materials, engineering, biotechnology, and pharmaceuticals, have broad prospect."

The Sino-Belarusian Industrial Park is the largest cooperation project between China and Belarus, and it is also the largest overseas industrial park in China, with a total planned area of 112.5 square kilometers. Rud Kirill, former Belarusian ambassador to China, once stated that the Sino-Belarusian Industrial Park is the "Xiongan New District" of Belarus. As of the end of 2020, there are 68 enterprises in the Sino-Belarusian Industrial Park, with a total agreed investment of over US$1.2 billion. The construction of the park has entered a stage of high-quality development, and the industrial agglomeration effect has been further enhanced.

In the first half of 2020, the China-Belarusian Business and Trade Logistics Park in the China-Belarusian Industrial Park provided free transportation services for materials donated by Chinese companies in Belarus, and transported nearly 540,000 pieces of medical protection materials. In June 2020, the logistics park established the Eurasian Rail Gateway joint venture company, responsible for the construction, investment and operation management of the railway station project in the China-Belarus Industrial Park. The first phase of the railway station project has a total investment of 31.5 million euros and a planned area of 80 hectares. In September, the exhibition and trading center of the logistics park held the 4th Belarusian National World Skills Competition, which attracted 350 contestants and many spectators from all regions of Belarus. The daily traffic of the exhibition hall reached more than 3,000 people.

Maz Weichai will produce and sell 2,121 engines in 2020, achieving sales revenue of approximately US$25 million, a year-on-year increase of 91%. At the same time, the company vigorously promotes the upgrade and transformation of production lines, builds robot workstations and AGV system projects, and builds a benchmark for intelligent and automated industrial enterprises.

2020 is the second year of registration and establishment of Fast Maz, a company in the park. Under the multiple challenges of the epidemic and project construction, Fast Maz achieved trial production in mid-September 2020. By the end of 2020, more than 600 gearboxes had been produced, exceeding the set target.

In November 2020, Zoomlion completed the construction of a factory of nearly 15,000 square meters in the Zhongbai Industrial Park, as well as the production and commissioning of 16 trial-produced truck cranes. The China United Maz joint venture produces 17 truck cranes and has established a relatively stable sales and service network. Currently, there are 20 agents and distributors in total, and 38 service stations have been signed.

Yaroshenko did not deny that the new crown epidemic has affected the progress of the industrial park. However, even during the epidemic, seven new companies have completed their settlement, four of which are related to the medical field. For example, a Czech company will produce new artificial prostheses here. At the same time, another 17 companies are also preparing to enter. The representatives of the China-Belarus Industrial Park are also constantly learning from other free economic zones and industrial parks. Yaroshenko said, "We should never fall behind. We should be ahead of foreign parks at the legislative level, and all factors should be considered comprehensively."

According to the plan, the Sino-Belarusian Industrial Park plans to attract 200 high-tech enterprises to settle in, and the employed population in the park will exceed 120,000. Eventually, it will form a comprehensive development zone with the coordinated development of traditional and innovative industries and the simultaneous advancement of social and economic benefits. Integration to create an international ecological industrial new city.

Belarus and China are real iron buddies

Belarus along the Belt and Road is the gateway for Central Asia to enter Europe. The China-Belarus Industrial Park is a major cooperation project between China and Belarus to jointly promote the Silk Road Economic Belt. The enterprises in the park will face the EU's large market of 500 million people in the future. From the perspective of funding, the entry threshold of the Sino-Belarusian Industrial Park is not high. The investment amount is not less than 5 million U.S. dollars, or the R&D project investment is not less than 500,000 U.S. dollars to become an enterprise entering the park. But on the other hand, the enterprises entering the Sino-Belarusian Industrial Park must comply with strict industrial positioning. The Sino-Belarusian Industrial Park aims at emerging industries in the future, and is committed to building an ecological, livable, prosperous, vigorous and innovative international new city.

As an important node country on the Silk Road Economic Belt, Belarus has convenient transportation and a well-developed air and road transportation system. It is the only way for most China-Europe Express trains to go to Europe. In addition to its advantageous geographical location, as a member of the Eurasian Economic Union, Belarus is an important economic channel connecting the Eurasian Economic Union and the European Union. The products of the China-Belarus Industrial Park can be sold to Russia, Kazakhstan and other countries without tax, covering the total population. More than 170 million. The superior geographical advantage and huge market scale make the China-Belarusian Industrial Park an important force that attracts companies from all over the world, and promotes the improvement of the level of cooperation between China and Belarus and the economic development of Belarus. The director of the China-Belarus Industrial Park Management Committee Yaroshenko emphasized in Minsk, the capital of Belarus, that the China-Belarusian Industrial Park is the engine of Belarusian economic development and also represents the future of the Belarusian economy. He will try his best to make this jewel more brilliant.

The China-Belarusian Industrial Park has created new opportunities for Chinese companies to go global. In the Sino-Belarusian Industrial Park, Chinese companies can hold groups for warmth, communicate with each other and develop together, and work together to solve problems in the process of going global. At the same time, the service function of the industrial park can help new enterprises to quickly overcome difficulties and increase the success rate of going overseas.

On the other hand, as a model project of the Belt and Road Initiative, the construction of the China-Belarusian Industrial Park and the Belt and Road Initiative promote and complement each other. For Chinese companies that want to go global, the Sino-Belarusian Industrial Park has a strong demonstrative effect. The success of the park can contribute to the success of the Belt and Road construction to a certain extent. The proposal of the Belt and Road Initiative has provided a huge boost for Chinese companies to go global, especially the construction of the China-Belarus Industrial Park.

In January 2018, the park development company obtained the EU Environmental Management and Audit Scheme Certificate (EMAS) and was the first Belarusian company to obtain the certificate. This system is considered the most advanced sustainable development system in the world, indicating the Sino-Belarusian Industrial Park It has reached the standard of an ecological city and is a green ecological model project for sustainable development. The development and construction of the park has been internationally recognized. Martini Romani from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development once said in a speech: “The development achievements of the China-Belarus Industrial Park show that the Belt and Road Initiative can indeed bring visible and tangible benefits to countries along the route.”

In the future, the park will take "industrialization, internationalization, digitization and ecologicalization" as the direction, focusing on technological research and development and high-end industrial manufacturing, systematically plan the industrial layout of the park, and formulate a high-level, high-quality, high-standard park development plan. Guide and promote the construction and operation of the China-Belarus Industrial Park to continue to deepen and implement, build an ecological industrial city, an international industrial city, and an important regional cooperation platform under the Belt and Road Initiative. Editor/He Yuting