China has said it will invest some $10 billion...
car plant and a sugar factory in Belarus, the reconstruction of several electric power stations, and the creation of a China-town in Minsk, the spokesman said.Leonid Zaiko, who heads the Belarusian analytical center Strategiya (Strategy), told Gazaeta.ru that Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko was demonstrating his independence from Russia by taking money from China. Russia invests in Belarus some $6-8 billion annually by providing it a discount on oil purchases, he said.
Traditionally strong ties between Russia and Belarus have deteriorated of late over Belarus"s refusal to follow Russia in recognizing the former Georgian republics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, disputes over oil supplies, and slow progress in establishing a Russian-Belarusian union state.
The two countries signed an agreement to establish a union state more than ten years ago, but the plan to create greater political, economic and social integration between the two former Soviet
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