On May 11 local time, the China-Belarus Local Economic and Trade Cooperation Forum was held in Minsk. President Xi Jinping and President Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus attended the opening ceremony and delivered speeches. Principal officials from China's eight provinces and municipalities of Beijing, Heilongjiang, Zhejiang, Guangdong, Jiangsu, Hubei, Sichuan and Gansu as well as their counterparts from Belarus' seven states and cities such as the Minsk city, the state of Minsk, and state of Brest attended the Forum.

Xi Jinping pointed out in his speech that in recent years, China-Belarus economic and trade relations have enjoyed a sustained and rapid development, and the investment and economic and technological cooperation between the two countries have developed at an obviously quicker pace. Under the circumstance of a weak global economic recovery, it is not easy to yield these results, which shows that China-Belarus practical cooperation boasts a solid foundation and enormous potential. Belarus is an essential part in Europe-Asia land transportation and enjoys a unique geographic advantage in jointly building the Silk Road Economic Belt. We are willing to promote the combination between the construction of the Silk Road Economic Belt and Belarus' national development strategy, deepen all-dimensional and mutually beneficial cooperation and boost the common development of China and Belarus.

Xi Jinping stressed that local economic and trade cooperation is an important part of China-Belarus comprehensive strategic partnership. Both sides should give play to their complementary advantages and expand local-level cooperation. The relevant departments and regions of the two countries should strengthen interconnection, explore new modes of cooperation and discuss new projects to develop local economic and trade cooperation into a new growth point for bilateral practical cooperation. The local governments of the two countries should strive to raise the level of opening up, improve the "hard environment" for business opportunities, investment and mutual cooperation, and build a good "soft environment" in accordance with the principles of compliance with the law, convenience and practical results. China is willing to strengthen production capacity cooperation with Belarus and share the advanced technology and highly efficient production capacity in the fields including railway, electricity, telecommunication and equipment manufacturing, and also welcomes Belarusian enterprises to expand investment in China. The local governments of the two countries should encourage and support their competitive enterprises to move to and operate in the China-Belarus Industrial Park. Special attention should be paid to the small and medium-sized enterprises participating in bilateral local-level cooperation to help them deal with fund shortage, financing difficulties and other problems. We should continuously improve the investment and financing channels and cooperation mechanisms and highlight the guiding and leading role of financing for projects. China is willing to discuss with Belarus to such financing channels use as the Silk Road Fund and the China-Eurasian Economic Cooperation Fund to promote the development of local-level cooperation between the two countries.

Alexander Lukashenko said that this Belarus-China Local Economic and Trade Cooperation Forum is a reflection of the high-level development of the overall bilateral relations. The close connection and cooperation between the regions and enterprises of the two countries are an important part of the bilateral comprehensive strategic partnership. The Belarusian government is willing to continuously provide favorable conditions and environment for foreign investors, and welcomes China's local governments and enterprises to increase investment in Belarus and to take Belarus as an important bridge to explore the European market. The Belarusian government thanks the Chinese government for strongly supporting China's local governments and enterprises to enhance cooperation with Belarus. He believes that the seed of cooperation sown by Belarus and China today will surely grow into a giant tree tomorrow.

Wang Huning, Li Zhanshu, Yang Jiechi and others attended the ceremony.