Belarus, which has been hit by Western sanctions over its support for Russia's offensive in Ukraine, said it will sign a free trade deal with China for services and investment.

China's Prime Minister Li Qiang was in Belarus to meet President Alexander Lukashenko, following a visit to Moscow where he hailed strengthening ties with Russia and met President Vladimir Putin. Minsk and Beijing will sign a series of bilateral partnership agreements during his visit, the Belarusian presidency said in a statement on its website.

"One of them can definitely be called historic – an agreement on the creation of a free trade zone for services and investment," it quoted Lukashenko as saying. Minsk said the deal would create "transparent and predictable rules" that would boost Belarus' exports to China by at least 12% and Chinese investment into Belarus by 30% over the next five years.

Belarus has been targeted by sanctions over its support of Russia's military offensive on Ukraine and Lukashenko's crackdown on protesters following his disputed 2020 re-election. It is hugely reliant on economic support from Moscow.

China meanwhile is flexing its economic muscle across Eurasia through vast infrastructure and financial projects, seeking to build up its soft power in an investment splurge that has concerned the West.

Both Belarus and China have been accused of enabling and supporting Moscow's military offensive on Ukraine. Lukashenko said he wanted to see a "large influx of Chinese technology" into Belarus over the coming years.

Source: Le Monde

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