China is a vast market, and Belarus needs to integrate into this market in terms of trade and industrial cooperation, Belarus’ First Deputy Prime Minister Nikolai Snopkov said on the air of the Belarus 1 TV channel.
“The commitment of ministers, concern heads, and enterprise directors to achieving tangible results is the very condition that allows us to attract Chinese investment and expand cooperation with China as much as possible,” Nikolai Snopkov stated.
He stressed that China is a huge market, capable of buying everything and producing everything, which means Belarus must embed itself in these processes through both trade and industrial cooperation, including the creation of joint ventures.
“China is open to us in this regard. A free trade agreement on goods and services has been signed, which, first of all, sends a political signal of openness, and secondly, establishes clear and transparent rules of the game in the economic area,” the First Deputy Prime Minister noted.
In late January, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko held a meeting to discuss the development of cooperation with China, during which he reaffirmed the course toward building strategic relations of the highest level with the country.
“The decision to forge top-level strategic relations with China is not subject to revision. On the contrary, we will invest resources, time, and attention in strengthening our cooperation. We have all the reserves for this,” the Belarusian leader stated. “China is a serious and long-term partner. We will always cooperate with China, for as long as our country exists as an independent and sovereign state. I am confident that we will remain independent and sovereign forever as well.”
The Head of state emphasized the need to reformat the investment cooperation with China. “Chinese foreign investments are setting records, especially in Belt and Road countries. Our Government also reports growth (up by 2,5 times in January-September 2025 year-on-year, reaching $443 million). But the Directive on developing relations with China set significantly more ambitious targets (no less than half a billion dollars annually, and no less than $150 million in direct investments for each region and the city of Minsk),” the President said. “When you see the figures for direct Chinese investments by region (Vitebsk - $1 million, Grodno - $100,000 over a five-year period), it immediately becomes clear who works hard and who doesn’t. I mean generally, not just in terms of cooperation with China."