The Great Stone China-Belarus Industrial Park

by Ma Li Wenbo
[Belarus] Yekaterina Radionova

The first thing visitors to the China-Belarus Industrial Park in Minsk, Belarus, see is the towering boulder standing at the entrance. It bears the sign "Great Stone Industrial Park", the name Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko gave to the park. It embodies "the cornerstone of the friendship between the peoples of China and Belarus". The two governments have promoted the Great Stone Industrial Park to make it stand tall. A series of measures has accelerated the park's construction with amazing speed, created an excellent investment environment for the enterprises based here, and brought benefits to companies from Belarus and other countries.

Inside the park, the national flags of China and Belarus flutter on the two sides of the wide roads. There is an impressive logistics exhibition and trade center in unique Chinese architectural style, specially designed office buildings with glass walls that sparkle in the sunlight, and a science and technology innovation center funded by the Chinese government. New buildings are rising with stepped-up construction and a new industrial city is emerging.

Great Stone Stands Tall

The China-Belarus Industrial Park is the largest investment promotion project in Belarus. It has harnessed the strengths of both countries to make the investment environment more convenient and the infrastructure better, providing an array of services and broad market prospects to enterprises from different countries. More enterprises are flocking to the park, vitalizing Belarus's economic development. The park has become a driving force for Belarus' economy.

Unlike some industrial parks where incoming enterprises have to go through complicated business procedures and cumbersome application forms that take a lot of time, in the highly efficient China-Belarus Industrial Park, the time-consuming red tape has been dispensed with.

The special hall in the park's comprehensive office building displays the logos of all the enterprises operating there on the walls on both sides of the entrance. Inside, there are several cubicles separated by glass panes. "This one-stop service hall is based on the industrial park in the city of Suzhou in east China," the first deputy director of the management committee of the park said. "Various government departments of Belarus have their offices here." The electronic one-stop service system offers interfaces in several languages, including Russian, Chinese, English and German. Ninety percent of the procedures can be completed online, which is both convenient and saves time.

In addition to its highly efficient administrative service, the China-Belarus Industrial Park is also impressive in its construction speed. For instance, when one company made an investment to build a factory in the park in winter, they had not thought that construction would start soon. But just four months later, they were able to move into their new home in the park.

"You will never step into the same China-Belarus Industrial Park twice." This is how Belarusians describe the construction speed of the park.

It took only one year to build the necessary infrastructure. Within that period the 110-kv power station became operational; water and gas pipes, the drainage system and communication networks were installed; and office buildings, standard workshops and sewage treatment plants were built. In 2016, on average 36.5 m of roads, 110.1 sq m of standard factories, and 11.9 sq m of office buildings were built every day, a record in construction speed.

"Things are emerging from nothing, and our dream is becoming a reality," the first deputy director of the China-Belarus Industrial Park Management Committee said enthusiastically. "China is a true friend of Belarus."


The commerce and logistics park in the industrial park has begun operation.

During the construction, due to the large volume of building materials that had to be transported, the railway station on the outskirts of Minsk became an important station for the China Railway Express to Europe. The rail line in the park leads directly to the Minsk National Airport and the Belarus Customs set up a station in the park to speed up clearance. The China-Belarus Commerce & Logistics Park was established to provide enterprises with logistical support for a full supply chain, including services such as trade, bonded storage and bonded processing, winning praise for the investment environment of the park from more enterprises.

In 2017, Belarus relaxed restrictions on the types of enterprises allowed to operate from the park. The China-Belarus Industrial Park also reduced the minimum registered capital required for scientific research and structural and technological experimental projects from USD5 million to USD500,000. The current tax policies of the park enable enterprises to pursue development with the least constraint.

When flowers blossom, butterflies will come. With its infrastructure, services and policies, the park is attracting more and more companies.

Besides drawing investors, it has also brought vitality and benefits to the neighborhood. In 2018 alone, it paid USD16.7 million in taxes to the local government and over 5,000 Belarusians found jobs here. The contract value of local construction companies subcontracting projects in the park reached nearly USD100 million. More than 300 Belarusians received business management training conducted by the Chinese.

During commuting hours, the buses in the park are full of people from all over the world. The park is becoming more and more like home to them. Employees have moved into the spacious apartments inside, banks have opened their branches, and there are post offices, pharmacies, clinics and groceries. In addition, there are fire stations, multi-language ATMs, 24 commercial billboards, and a World War II-themed bar, Military Officers' Home. A bird's eye view of the park shows more than 20 virgin forest swathes, each 30 to 50 m wide, forming an ecological protection belt. Almost 1,000 new fruit trees have been planted.

Engine Manufacturing Dream Realized

The Maz Holding Group is the largest state-owned enterprise in Belarus and owns one of the largest car factories in the Commonwealth of Independent States. In the Maz Auto Plant Museum, a large number of trophies, models and photographs record its past glories.

Two of these photographs strike a special chord with the Chinese auto industry workers in the park, like Wang Mingli, an automotive technical engineer.

One of them shows experts from the Maz Auto Plant helping China to build its automobile industry in the 1950s. At that time, the newly founded People's Republic of China lacked technology and resources and Soviet experts helped the Chinese auto industry to start.

Sixty years later, a Chinese company began collaboration with the Maz Auto Plant to create new history. Another photograph shows the groundbreaking ceremony of the joint venture of Maz and China's Weichai Group in the park in 2017.

In the past, Maz lacked the ability to produce engines and had to spend a lot of money buying engines and diagnostic equipment from abroad, which affected its development. The factory produced only about 10,000 cars a year, far less than the annual output of nearly 30,000 cars during its heyday.

Maz needed to manufacture engines for its rejuvenation and fast growth. The China-Belarus Industrial Park facilitated a collaboration between it and Weichai Power and the two companies established a joint venture in the park, which enabled Maz to establish a complete industrial chain for the production of trucks.


The Maz-Weichai joint venture company

To enhance its development, Maz-Weichai sent employees to China to master engine manufacturing technology. In addition, to address the dearth of training and engine technology personnel in Belarus, Chinese companies donated training equipment worth nearly USD1 million to the Minsk Automotive Engineering Institute, established an engine power training center, and created a two-way training mechanism for engine technology personnel.

The China-Belarus Industrial Park is a witness to cooperation between Chinese and Belarusian enterprises to realize their dream of common development.

A Village in the Industrial Park

The Calf Village is a century-old small village inside the China-Belarus Industrial Park.

Learning that an industrial park was to be built next to their homes, the villagers were upset at first. They worried they would lose the rural scenery and fresh air. They also worried that they could be forced to relocate.

However, the China-Belarus Industrial Park included the village in its ecological protection area. It did not demolish any house nor did it fell any tree. It also built an asphalt road for the villagers and their fears have disappeared.

Today, the intact village is a part of the park. With an improved road, the villagers live a better life. Some private houses along the road have been renovated recently, and some doors have been repainted. Little girls riding bicycles or playing on the flat asphalt road are a common sight.

"Before the road was built, although the village had heating and gas, many residents did not like to live there in spring and winter as it was inconvenient to move around," said a woman called Radionova who grew up in the village and now works in the industrial park. Radionova said the flat and wide China-Belarus Friendship Road has made travel easier, and people are increasingly willing to move back into the village. Since the park hires locals, many young people in the village work near their homes. Besides, the park buys the vegetables and fruits grown by the villagers, which increases their income.

On July 13, 2016, Belarus was hit by a windstorm. A large number of houses in Smalyavichy, where the industrial park is located, were destroyed by gales, and many trees were uprooted. The China Merchants Group, which participated in the development of the park, immediately donated USD100,000 to help the local residents rebuild their homes.

On their way to the disaster-stricken area, the staff of China Merchants Group were passing by the Calf Village when they saw an old man walking on the narrow dirt road. It had become muddied due to the storm and when a car came along, there was no place for the man to move away. He got splashed with mud.

The staff stopped to give the man a lift back to his home. They learned that there was only one road in the village, that uneven dirt road. In spring when the snow melted and in the rainy season, when the showers came, it turned muddy, making traveling a nightmare, especially for the elderly and children. For years, the villagers had been hoping the government would build an asphalt road for them.

The China Merchants Group decided to help and donated USD120,000 from its charity foundation. A month later, an asphalt road 5 m wide and 1,200 m long had been built, realizing the long-cherished dream of the villagers.


A ceremony is held to open the newly built asphalt road.

The new road was opened with a ceremony. It was a bright sunny day and all villagers came to the site early, talking and laughing. A teen band played music amid red and blue balloons. The poplar trees planted on both sides of the road offered gentle shade.

In her house in the village, Granny Lida was busy picking fresh strawberries in her backyard. Then the 86-year-old put on a beautiful headband and came to the site with her basket of strawberries, helped along by her granddaughter Anita. At the ceremony, on behalf of the villagers, she gave the strawberries to the representative of the China Merchants Group, saying, "Thank you, China!"

The local government of Smalyavichy had "China-Belarus Friendship Road" inscribed in Chinese and Russian on a large stone, which was placed at the village entrance to show its gratitude to the Chinese company.

The story of Chinese involvement in the village goes beyond the road.

In autumn, when the apples in the village orchards ripened, the villagers had no thought about utilizing the abundance and the fruits people didn't eat were left to rot.

The wastage made the Chinese visitors come up with an idea. They proposed that since the village had few people but there were many more in the park, a charity event could be held to sell the extra apples. This would prevent wastage and the income would benefit the villagers.


A glimpse of Belarus

The proposal got an enthusiastic response from the villagers. Since it was difficult for the old to go to the park, the buyers bought their apples directly from them in the village, measuring the fruit in front of them and handing over the money to them. After a busy morning, Chinese companies bought 2,400 kg of apples. This charity activity turned wastage into money in the hands of villagers.

The China Merchants Group has also funded local teenage footballers, donated heating equipment to the Belarus SOS Children's Villages International, and bought fruit trees for ecological restoration in the China-Belarus Industrial Park.

The park has brought high-tech and high added value to Belarus. Local people regard working there as something to be proud of and are confident the development of the park will bring them a better future.

The China-Belarus Industrial Park has also established a good international cooperation platform for more companies, which are looking forward to growing in the park.

It is a new international city today, integrating a sound ecosystem, livability, industries, vitality and innovation, and has turned into reality from a blueprint.

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Project Overview:

The China-Belarus Industrial Park is an important cooperative project jointly built by China and Belarus. The park, with a planned area of 91.5 sq km, is located near the Minsk National Airport. It is a key project for investment promotion in Belarus and an important platform for introducing international advanced industrial technology.

As of November 2019, the China-Belarus Industrial Park had completed roads, pipeline networks and other infrastructure in the first phase, covering 8.5 sq km, and 60 enterprises had officially entered it. In addition to Chinese and Belarusian companies, there are companies from the United States, Germany, Austria, Lithuania, Israel and Switzerland, covering sectors such as machinery and equipment, electronic communications, new materials, new energy, biomedicine and financial services.