Belarus and China to Sign Technology Investment and Services Free Trade Agreement

Belarus and China are to sign a Free Trade Agreement covering services and investment, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said at a meeting with Chinese Premier Li Qiang in Minsk on Thursday (August 22).

Lukashenko said that “Our two parties will sign documents formalizing plans for their future partnership in key areas. One of them is an agreement to create a free trade area for services and on investment. Belarus is the first Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) country to conclude such an agreement with China.”

The EAEU is a free trade bloc that includes Belarus along with Armenia, Russia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. The EAEU also has FTA with Iran, Serbia and Vietnam. The Belarus-China FTA would not have been possible without other EAEU members agreeing and will have an impact on Chinese market access into their economies via Belarus.

Lukashenko said he has invited the Chinese government to allow leading Chinese technology companies enter the Belarusian market as a core mid-term task for the two countries’ governments. “We see the development of Belarus in cohesion with China’s new quality productive forces concept based on technologies, innovations and high-quality human potential,” he said.

The new agreement is expected to enable Belarus to increase exports of its services to China by at least 12%-15% within the next five years, while investment in Belarus will grow by at least 30%, Lukashenko said. To facilitate Belarusian exports to China, Russia is building a specific Belarusian goods port on its Pacific coastline in the Russian Far East.