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Belarusian President offers China to set up big media holding

The media holding is intended to broadcast in Europe and in former Soviet republics

MINSK, September 5 (Itar-Tass) - Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has offered China to set up a big media holding to broadcast in Europe and in former Soviet republics.

“The spectrum of our relations is very wide,” Lukashenko said on Thursday at a meeting with Liu Yunshan, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee. “We would be interested in China’s establishing here, in the centre of Europe, a big media holding that would broadcast to Europe and the post-Soviet space.” According to the Belarusian leader, it could be either a joint or purely Chinese project. “But we want it to work actively to promote our cooperation so that people in Chine could learn more about our plans, joint initiatives and projects,” he noted.

Lukashenko also said his country was interested in the implementation of joint Belarusian-Chinese projects and in China’s direct investments in its economy. “We are interested in China’s direct investments in Belarus,” he noted. “On our part, we shall create all necessary conditions for that. In the recent years and even months, we took a number of unprecedented decisions concerning our joint projects that are financed or credited by the Chinese side.” Among such projects is the one for the construction of a joint industrial park that would house the world’s leading manufacturers.

“We are proud of our relations with this great country, which is playing an ever growing role in the development of international relations,” Lukashenko said. “We have a twenty-year record of cooperation with great China.”

According to the Belarusian president, the current visit by the top-ranking Chinese official proves that “China is interested in comprehensive strategic partnership with Belarus.” He recalled a recent visit to China by a Belarusian government delegation, when the leaders of the two countries reached an agreement on drafting a roadmap for the development of strategic partnership relations. “I hope this roadmap will be signed soon when our prime minister pays a visit to China,” he added.

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