Chinese partners invite Belarusian Vitebsk to cooperate in mechanical engineering, biotechnologies

Chinese partners suggest developing cooperation in the sphere of biotechnologies and mechanical engineering to Vitebsk, BelTA learned from Wang Yicai, Vice Mayor of the Chinese city of Jinan, in Vitebsk on 11 November.

Prospects of cooperation between the Belarusian city and the Chinese one were discussed during the meeting of an official delegation of the Jinan city with the Vitebsk city administration.

The Chinese side believes that cooperation in biotechnologies and mechanical engineering has a lot of promise. “Apart from that, we are interested in joint projects and contacts in culture, education, and sport,” noted the head of the delegation.

During the meeting the Chinese guests voiced a number of proposals. In particular, an invitation to visit the Festival of Springs in Jinan was extended. The Vice Mayor said that the Chinese city is famous for many natural springs. “We invite representatives of sister cities to visit the festival and discuss future cooperation matters,” he said.

The deputy head of the Jinan city administration also noted that Vitebsk school students, who study Chinese, can get a special scholarship to study in Jinan. They will not have to pay for education but only for accommodation. No Belarusians have taken up the offer yet. The Vice Mayor said that twinned cities should also promote contacts in sport. “It is an important area. We all attach special importance to healthcare. Exchange of delegations of athletes would be useful,” said the Vice Mayor.

In turn, Vitebsk Mayor Viktor Nikolaikin informed the Chinese delegation about plans to set up a park for information and innovative technologies in Vitebsk. The park will focus on IT industry. An industrial zone as a branch of the China-Belarus Industrial Park may be set up as well.

After the meeting in the city hall the delegation went to secondary school No. 44 to get familiar with Chinese language instruction practices. A tour of Vitebsk including the art museum and the local lore museum is part of the itinerary.

Jinan and Vitebsk were twinned by the relevant agreement signed in 2009. Apart from that, in December 2014 the Vitebsk city administration and the Jinan city government signed a memorandum of understanding. The document stipulates intentions to step up sister city relations, carry out joint projects in the sphere of economy, science, culture, education, tourism, youth movement, intentions to exchange information about matters of mutual interest. Apart from that, Jinan is the administrative capital of Shandong Province, with which Vitebsk Oblast cooperates.