In recent years, with the gradual strengthening of cooperation between China and Belarus under the Belt and Road Initiative, the bilateral trade volume has continued to grow. As an important node country on the Silk Road Economic Belt, Belarus is one of the first countries to respond to and participate in the joint construction of the Belt and Road Initiative.

Since the establishment of diplomatic relations in January 1992, China and Belarus have gone through 31 years of friendly cooperation. In September 2022, the leaders of the two countries jointly announced that China-Belarus relations will be upgraded to an all-weather comprehensive strategic partnership, injecting strong impetus into cooperation between the two countries in various fields. Just before the two sessions of China in 2023, Belarusian President Lukashenko visited China, which further consolidated the political mutual trust and friendly relations between China and Belarus.

Silk Road Pearl China-Belarus Industrial Park

Belarusian Ambassador to China Yuri Senko: China and Belarus have established diplomatic relations for 31 years, and what we are proud of is that our cooperation has become more and more stable. President Lukashenko has visited China 13 times, and President Xi Jinping has been to Belarus many times. All this shows that the two countries are eager to deepen cooperation and strengthen relations.

As an important transportation hub on the Eurasian continent, Belarus has always played an important role in the Belt and Road Initiative. The ambassador said with emotion that this initiative has not only created tangible economic and social benefits for countries along the route, but also contributed to the promotion of global governance China program.

Yuri Senko, Belarusian Ambassador to China: The Belt and Road Initiative is an initiative involving three-quarters of the world's countries. This initiative has had global significance since its inception. This initiative works to build strength, not create confrontation. With projects implemented under the Belt and Road Initiative, all participating countries can feel the effectiveness of this initiative.

The China-Belarus Industrial Park is a Belt and Road cooperation project personally promoted by the heads of state of China and Belarus and highly valued by the two governments. According to Ambassador Yuri Senko, in 2022, the net profit of enterprises in the industrial park will increase by 140% compared with the previous year, which makes Belarus more confident in future cooperation and development.

Belarusian Ambassador to China Yuri Senko: Now the business of the China-Belarus Industrial Park is developing smoothly. More than 100 companies have settled in and they produce the most advanced products for the Eurasian market. We believe that this project will be greatly developed in the future, because the number of countries and enterprises that want to do business in the park is increasing day by day. At present, the fields of enterprises in the park are very diverse, including biology, agriculture, aerospace and medicine, especially Chinese medicine enterprises. my country is the first European country to open a Chinese medicine enterprise. The China-Belarus Industrial Park is indeed a pearl.

Fruitful cooperation between the two countries

Belarusian Ambassador to China Yuri Senko: Belarus is one of the first countries to join the Belt and Road Initiative. Our participation is multi-faceted, including the China-Europe Railway Express that crosses Belarus to connect China and Western Europe, and implements a series of trains that will not only benefit China and Belarus are also beneficial to projects in other countries. Since joining the Belt and Road Initiative, the trade volume between our two countries has increased tenfold. In 2022, despite the obstruction of the epidemic, the railway freight volume between China and Belarus will still increase by 6.5 times. Projects implemented under the Belt and Road Initiative contribute to mutual understanding between China and Belarus. We also see many promising projects made possible by this initiative.

The world is facing major changes unseen in a century, and China and Belarus are joint defenders of international fairness and justice. The ambassador said that the relationship between the two countries has withstood the test of the vicissitudes of the international situation. The hearts of the Belarusian people are always connected with the Chinese people, and they will stand firmly with China at any time.

Belarusian Ambassador to China Yuri Senko: There has been a saying between our two countries that iron buddies are all-weather partners. For us, iron buddies are a very high-level partnership. This means that the two countries will be reliable, firm and permanent partners in any environment and under any situation. We stand by each other unswervingly in domestic affairs as well as in international affairs at all levels. So I believe we will be close buddies no matter in the past, present or future.Editor/Ma Xue