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Belarus President suggests more active cooperation to Chinese CITIC

08 August 2008

Alexander Lukashenko has suggested that Belarus and Chinese corporation CITIC should cooperate more actively.

The Belarusian side encourages CITIC to more actively come to Belarus, said the Belarusian head of state as met with CITIC CEO Kong Dan on August 7.

 “You know our capabilities and needs. This time we are very much interested in civil engineering. If your specialists are also interested in it, we would be delighted to present projects and ideas of the Belarusian construction industry in detail,” remarked the President. 
 

In his words, at present China has to slow down the growth to avoid “overheating” the economy. “Whether you want it or not, you will have to work and build abroad. We would like CITIC to work more actively in Belarus. I would like to ask you one thing: if you decide to work in Belarus, you should act fast,” said Alexander Lukashenko. “Let’s discuss cooperation avenues in the nearest future. If it is possible, come to Belarus. The government will consider many projects as CITIC is a very versatile company with various business avenues — from government to finance. I think you will find your own place in Belarus”.

The President told Kong Dan the Belarusian side is interested in CITIC’s assistance in setting up a similar company albeit a smaller one in Belarus.

“Using this example we could set up even several companies in Belarus. We highly value the experience of the People’s Republic of China in creating exactly such state-run companies, though I admit private capital may be involved. With your aid we would be able to implement the project twice as faster. I see a lot of advantages in this regard including the fact that such a corporation can train top-qualification managers,” added the President.

Belarus established the first contacts with CITIC in 2007 with a view to implementing investment projects. A project for building three cement plants and modernising power supply of Belarus’ three existing cement plants has been implemented.

Kong Dan said, CITIC Group was founded in 1979. At present it has both financial and non-financial business interests. The latter include exploration of natural resources, infrastructure development, and contractual work.

Nowadays the total assets of CITIC Group exceed $200 billion.

Speaking about the corporation’s cooperation with Belarus in building the three cement lines, Kong Dan remarked both the sides had signed relevant contracts not so long before. “As far as I know the financial part has been decided on. We are interested in accelerating the implementation of the project in order to make a contribution to promoting cooperation between Belarus and China. CITIC is an honest partner you can trust. We will do our best to implement the project,” he underscored.

BELTA