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man of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission at China's State Council, in Minsk on 1 August, Bel- TA reported. The governments will initially seed the fund with $585mn, but it could be increased to $1bn or more, if need be.
Chinese companies are eyeing Belarus as a low cost bridge- head to produce and export to Europe. The meeting was attended by representatives of a number of major Chinese corporations.
“The companies represented in our delegation are among the world’s top 500 largest and strongest enterprises,” Xiao said during the meeting.
“Chinese companies are eyeing Belarus as a low cost bridgehead to produce and export to Europe.”
One deal that has already been struck is a commitment by China’s YTO Group Corporation to cooperate with Belarusian companies in the production of spare parts for agricultural machinery, Chairman of the Board of YTO Group Zhao Yans- hui told the media during a visit of the Chinese delegation to agricultural concern BelAZ on 1 August.
“The main line of business of our company is the production of agricultural equipment and spare parts for it. We opened
our office in the China-Belarus industrial park Great Stone today. It is planned that we will be working in close coop- eration with the Minsk Tractor Plant, Amkodor, Saleo and jointly produce spare parts for agricultural equipment on the territory of the industrial park. Every company will use its advantages. In the future we plan to sell our products to the CIS, Eastern Europe, Central Asia, including China,” said Zhao, cited by BelTA.
BelAZ already has some cooperation deals with Chinese com- panies, such as the AVIK-BelAZ Mine Trucks joint venture in China in cooperation with CATIC Supply. BelAZ also takes part in a joint venture to produce cars in Belarus, the construction of the BelGee factory to make the Chinese brand Geely cars.
Belarus and China also plan to construct energy facilities in third countries together, Belarusian Energy Minister Vladimir Potupchik said.
“We have used over $2bn to build facilities of the Belarusian national power grid together with Chinese partners. We understand each other very well. We are now conducting negotiations to branch out into third countries together and build energy facilities throughout the world,” the minister said.
Amongst the mooted projects is a 330kV substation that will allow power exports from Belarus to Lithuania, which is one of 23 projects under discussion. As much as 95% of the cost is covered by a preferential loan from the Export-Import Bank of China.
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Spotlight trained on Russia for World Cup dress rehearsal
Jason Corcoran in Moscow
The spotlight is on Russia as the country prepares to host its dress rehearsal ahead of next year’s foot- ball World Cup amid growing concerning about the readiness of the venues and safety of fans.
The Kremlin has boosted security measures and rushed to complete a controversial
The strange death of Social Democratic Czechia
Robert Anderson in Prague
Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka’s res- ignation as Social Democrat leader on June 14 reflects the precipitous decline in CSSD support in opinion polls this year.
The party’s vote has sunk from regularly more than 30% in the noughties, to 20% at the 2013 election,
Launch of the countdown from 1000 days until the 2018 World Cup begins in Russia.
$1.5bn stadium in St Petersburg as it banks
on FIFA’s Confederations Cup to showcase its ability to host a successful World Cup in 2018. The eight-nation tournament kicks off at the scandal-plagued St Petersburg stadium on June
See page 2
Bohuslav Sobotka resigned as Social Democrat leader but stayed on as Czech premier.
to a low of 10%, according to one recent poll.
It now looks all but certain now that the CSSD will be out of power – or at least a leading position – after the next election in October. The expected
See page 3
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