Before starting the interview, Mr. Hu Zheng, at our request told a little about himself, saying that he was 60, and according to the Chinese laws, he could easily retire, having behind 41 years of seniority. Of those 14 years he devoted to army service, then he worked as a clerk in the Ministry of Transport and Communications of China. Since 1998 he worked at China Merchants Group. For 11 years he was vice president. Today, Mr. Hu Zheng is a member of the Board of Directors, the general representative of the corporation in the areas of Central Asia and the Baltics, CEO (Chief Executive Officer) of the Belarusian-Chinese Industrial Park.
Photo: Svetlana Kureichik, “Minskaya Prauda”
Mr. Hu Zheng calls his mission in Belarus the crown of his career, stressing that the work abroad and in our country, in particular, is a new experience fro him, and efforts to establish the Chinese-Belarusian industrial park has aroused enthusiasm in him.
- I have traveled a lot, but have never been to Belarus. Since last year I have often visited your country, spent a lot of time in Minsk.
We used to have small knowledge of Belarus, but of Minsk. Why did hear a lot about your capital? (smiles). Because in my city Shenzhen there is Minsk aircraft carrier (pride of the Pacific Fleet, in 1990 it was sold for scrap to the South Korean company, then the Chinese created an entertainment center on its base. — Ed.).
Belarus is a great country with good environment. I am particularly impressed by the forest, deep sky and bright sun.
Belarusians are disciplined, responsible, well-educated and good-natured. I can say so about everyone with whom I have dealt with. Belarus is a secure place. For us, in Belarus there is no discomfort. The atmosphere here is very friendly.
I have had extensive contacts with leaders and members of the Minsk Oblast Executive Committee. All of them have shown their professional competence, I respect them fro this. The Executive Committee gives support in the development of the Park. There were many meetings with Semen Shapiro. I think that the Minsk Oblast officials want to work and do not hedge the issues.
I visited all the villages around the Park, met with local residents. As soon as they heard that we were from China and building here the Great Stone Park, they immediately showed great interest in the conversation and expressed positive expectations.
-You know, our people also had the opportunity to see the sincerity of your intentions and good relations to Belarus, when after the July’s storm China Merchants Group did not forget about the residents of the district, but provided charitable funds for recovery work …
- Smolevichi District suffered a lot. On the territory of the district the Park is based. We felt as if we had been affected by the disaster … Thus, we immediately decided to help, and I was very glad to hear from Semen Shapiro, that it was China Merchants Group that the first Chinese company went to the rescue.
We are aware of our social responsibility and we will continue to expand our charitable activities. We are ready to make friends and jointly implement the initiative of the heads of our states — through the construction of the Chinese-Belarusian Industrial Park to open a new page in the history of friendly relations between China and Belarus.
- Mr. Zheng Hu, you have already mentioned in a interview that the Industrial Park near Smolevichi is the largest among all the overseas parks that China is building, and the largest one of all, that China Merchants Group is building abroad. Indeed, among the residents of the Park your company is the most active and now realizes the idea of the so-called dry port. What is the main idea of the project?
- The issue of investment in the Republic of Belarus for China Merchants Group is very serious. We have decided to invest in the Park, because it needs relevant integrated logistics facilities. Without this it is difficult to imagine here the organization of industrial production. (Belarus is a landlocked country, and an effective modern logistics is required for the growth of its economy.)
I should say that Belarus has a very good infrastructure for the development of logistics. Our advantage is that the park is in close proximity to the Minsk airport, this creates favorable conditions for the development of air transport.
The M1 motorway connecting Moscow and Berlin just passes through the territory of the Great Stone Park. All trains from China go through Minsk, thus, the conditions for the future development of the land logistics are also very promising.
But Belarus has no access to the sea. At the same time, shipping transportation is less expensive, and we have focused on the development of multimodal logistics
- This is why your company is negotiating for the purchase of a terminal in Klaipeda port?
- China Merchants Group has never stated that wants to buy the terminal in Klaipeda. We are studying the possibility of participating in the construction of a deep-water container berth in the port of Klaipeda — or on the basis of the existing one or completely new, adhering to the scientific approach and the market demand. There are different approaches to this issue, but there is no formed opinion or conclusion.
I should also say that the Lithuanian government attaches great importance to the negotiations with China Merchants Group. And I am sure that more and more goods will be delivered to the Park via Klaipeda port, and in the future from there the goods of our residents will go for the purpose intended.
However, there is an alternative. For example, it is Riga port. But Klaipeda is still closer.
- Thus, the project provides for the connection of four types of transport (air, rail, road, water) into a single logistics system?
- We think about the development of the Chinese-Belarusian Industrial Park comprehensively, so we are building a large regional center here, which will provide residents with logistics services. It will reveal the key role of Belarus over the reconstructed Silk Road, opening the gates of the Central Asian countries to Europe. It will become the distribution center of goods in the European space, increase sales of export-oriented products, develop cross-border trade and logistics. I think that this is very beneficial for Belarus in the aspect of economic restructuring and the creation of the new economic growth point.
That is the idea to build a trade and logistics park totaling 500 million US dollars. I am convinced that with the development of the park China Merchants Group investment will become increasingly important.
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It is usually said that China Merchants Group is a logistics provider, It is not quite so. This is just one of the many advantages ourpluses. China Merchants Group is a large complex diversified corporation whose total assets exceed 8 trillion US dollars.
- How do you assess the current state of the affairs?
- After the high-level visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping, the stage of accelerated development was begun in May last year. Who sees the site now, can say how far we have got ahead. Although earlier the Park was just a laid laid.
There is a road with a length of 11 km, of which 7.7 km are asphalted. The supply of electricity to the stations with the capacity of 100 ths kWh will be held on September 15. This is a project of the grant aid from the Chinese government worth 90 million yeans.
Water and sewage systems have been already finished. Throughout the territory the telecommunications network has been laid.
The construction of the facility is proceeding at a high speed. China Merchants Group has invested in it 150 million US dollars. It is a business center with a total area of 6 250 square meters. The storage terminal with an area of 51 thousand square meters is at the final stage, as well as the exhibition center with an area of 21 thousand square meters.
Only in Belarus for the construction of the first stage of the Park we bought 5.5 thousand tons of steel, other 3.5 thousand tons have been delivered from China.
By the end of September, all the objects of the first stage of the Park starting zone will be ready. This is a good foundation for further development.
- Recently, some domestic Internet resources have distributed information that in the first half of 2016 no new residents have appeared in the Great Stone Park, unlike other FEZs …
- I am familiar with this material. The title itself is very curious: “Under a stone mat lies..”. As if the China-Belarus Industrial Park already “lies”. But even lying does not mean it is bad (smells). Perhaps it accumulates energy.
However, it is a fact: for the first half of the year the number of the park residents has not increased. For us it is also a very complicated issue, which presses us. And I should say that the attraction of investments is not an easy job.
Firstly, not everyone is aware of the Park. Other FEZs have been functioning for many years, and the Great Stone has been operating for a year and a half. It is like a baby.
Secondly, today the global economy shows not very good trends. Investors are cautious.
Thirdly, I believe that too high conditions for potential investors and residents have been set, and therefore the park administration has refused to register seven projects in the first half of 2016. But I am sure they will be accepted in other FEZs.
- What kind of projects do you mean?
- In particular, a large and well-known food factory from China, German brewery and one Chinese company for the production of malt want to implement them.
They might have started the construction, but the issue of registration of these companies has not been solved so far.
- So the problem is not just to fill the park with a variety of industries, but only with high-tech ones?
- Not exactly. I think that the current rules do not correspond to the real state of the Park, at least for now. In principle, the development of the industrial park is divided into three stages: the startup stage, the stage of rapid development and the stage of escalation and transformation. Criteria for investors and residents at the start-up stage should be softened and activity areas should be extended. I agree with the fact that our Park should be in the format of modern production with new sectors of the economy, it is necessary to strictly observe environmental requirements. In this respect, no exemptions should be accepted. But in any particular period, I think the criteria should be eased for the registration of residents, otherwise the attraction of investments will be quite problematic.
- But still what can help to attract new investors and residents?
- In my opinion, it is impossible to refuse to medium and small enterprises and, we need to provide with an access to the park those companies that work not only within the six activity areas of the Great Stone, which have already been identified. For example, it is possible and necessary to attract companies involved in the processing on a tolling basis, for example, stone or metal. Or it could be a Belarusian flax processing. It is possible here to get high added value.
Right now the most important thing for our Park is to make a breakthrough in attracting investment, putting maximum effort for this.
Under the materials of mpravda.by