China Eximbank pledges $1.5 billion loan for Great Stone Industrial Park (Linked to Project ID#73246, ID#66959, ID#66961)

In December 2011, the Belarusian Parliament ratified a framework agreement with the Chinese Government to implement several joint investment projects, including the Great Stone Industrial Park. Then, on January 17, 2013, China Development Bank and the Ministry of Economy of Belarus signed a construction financing framework agreement with a China-Belarus joint venture and project company called CJSC “Industrial Park Development Company” (中白工业园区开发股份有限 or China-Belarus Industrial Park Development Company or CBIPDC or Компания по развитию индустриального парка) for the Great Stone Industrial Park Construction Project. During the very same month, the Ministry of Economy of Belarus announced that China Development Bank intended to provide a $1.5 billion loan for the construction of Great Stone Industrial Park. In 2012, China Eximbank also pledged to lend as much as $1.5 billion for the construction of Great Stone Industrial Park. Project ID#42313 captures the $1.5 billion loan pledge from China Eximbank in 2012 and Project ID#73246 captures the $1.5 billion loan pledge from CDB in 2013.According to multiple official sources, the Great Stone Industrial Park Construction Project was ultimately supported by a $170 million loan from China Eximbank (captured in Project ID#66961) that was finalized on May 10, 2015 and a $110 million loan from China Development Bank (captured in Project ID#66959) that was finalized in 2013.

Additional details

CJSC “Industrial Park Development Company” was founded on August 27, 2012 and it is jointly owned by Sinomach (32%), CAMCE (13.71%), China Merchants Group (20%), Harbin Investment Group (2.29%), and the Government of Belarus (32%). Its creation followed the signing of an intergovernmental agreement on the China-Belarus Industrial Park on September 18, 2011 and the subsequent ratification of the agreement by both countries on January 30, 2012. The Overseas Development Finance Dataset that Boston University’s Global Development Policy Center published in December 2020 identifies a $3 billion “loan” in 2012 from CDB and China Eximbank for this project. However, this appears to be a reference to the two separate $1.5 billion pledges that were made by China Eximbank in 2012 and China Development Bank in 2013 (see Project ID#42313 and Project ID#73246). According to multiple official sources, the Great Stone Industrial Park Construction Project was ultimately supported by a $170 million loan from China Eximbank (captured in Project ID#66961) that was finalized on May 10, 2015 and a $110 million loan from China Development Bank (captured in Project ID#66959) that was finalized in 2013.

Number of official sources

3

Number of unofficial sources

12