Belarus, China sign $3.4B in contracts

MINSK, Belarus, March 25 (UPI) -- Contracts worth $3.4 billion for nuclear power construction and road upgrades were signed by China and Belarus in Minsk, the Belarusian state news agency said.

President Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus and Xi Jinping, vice president of the People's Republic of China, met this week to discuss the deals, as well as a "soft loan" of $8.8 million for Belarus, the BelTA news agency said Thursday.

Lukashenko told a news conference China has already invested more than $1 billion in Belarus and bilateral trade is growing.

"Once we were dreaming about the trade turnover of $500 million," he said. "Today the bilateral trade is almost $2.5 billion a year."

Lukashenko also sided with Beijing's stance against Taiwan's demand for independence and said Belarus would vote with China in the United Nations General Assembly on the issue.

"The support of separatism is a direct threat both to China and the world community," he said.