Belarus and China announced plans to bolster their cooperation across multiple sectors, including energy, finance, trade, and security.
According to China’s Foreign Ministry, the agreement was reached during a meeting between Chinese Premier Li Qiang and Belarusian Prime Minister Roman Golovchenko in Minsk.
The joint statement reportedly outlined intentions to “deepen bilateral trade and investment cooperation” and “expand inter-bank credit and financial cooperation and bilateral financial interaction. “
Both nations desired to increase the use of local currencies in their economic transactions. Beijing and Minsk are also likely to increase the share of local currencies in bilateral trade, investment, credit, and other economic operations and intend to create an effective settlement system in national currencies for their business entities.
Belarus aims to deepen collaboration with China’s Greater Bay Area, an economic region encompassing nine major cities, including Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Zhuhai, where many of China’s tech companies are headquartered.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry reports that China is Belarus’s second-largest trading partner and its largest in Asia. Trade between the two countries exceeded $8.4 billion last year.
The two nations also agreed to enhance security cooperation. Both sides will allegedly strengthen cooperation in defense, justice, law enforcement, and security, including training of military personnel, and will jointly combat cybercrime and transnational crime.
This meeting follows Li’s recent state visit to Russia, his first as China’s premier. Belarus and China remain key allies of Russia as Western sanctions increasingly isolate Moscow on the international stage.
Belarus joined the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) on 4 July, a Eurasian political, economic, and defense organization led by Russia and China. On 8 July, Chinese and Belarusian militaries conducted joint military drills near the Ukrainian and Polish borders.
While China officially maintains neutrality regarding Russia’s war in Ukraine and denies providing lethal aid to Moscow, Beijing and Moscow continue to strengthen their ties.
Read also: