BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

05/11/2007

Backgrounder: Key facts about Belarus

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao arrives in Minsk Sunday to start an official visit to Belarus. The following are some key facts about the country:

Situated in eastern Europe, Belarus borders Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Russia and Ukraine. It covers a total area of 207,600 square km and consists of six regions besides the capital city of Minsk.

The country has a population of 9.81 million, one fifth of which is concentrated in Minsk.

Among the ethnic groups, Belarussians and Russians respectively account for 81.2 percent and 11.4 percent of the population.

Russian is spoken by most people. Belarussian, an eastern Slav tongue similar to Russian and Ukrainian, is also an official language.

Belarus is landlocked and relatively flat. Forests cover about a third of the land. Lakes and rivers punctuate the country. Three major rivers run through its territory -- the Neman, the Pripyat and the Dnepr.

The country has a broad agricultural base and its chief agricultural products are potatoes, flax, hemp, sugar beet, rye and oats.

The main branches of industry produce tractors, trucks, earth movers, metal-cutting machine tools, agricultural equipment, motorcycles, chemicals, fertilizer, textiles and consumer goods.

The major trading partners include Russia, the Netherlands, Germany, Ukraine, Poland, Britain and China. Two-thirds of Belarussian exports go to Russia. Belarus also serves as a transit point for Russian oil and natural gas exported to other European countries.

In 2005, the country's gross domestic product (GDP) reached 29.618 billion U.S. dollars, up 9.2 percent from the previous year.

Since Belarus and China established diplomatic ties in 1992, the two countries have conducted frequent high-level exchanges and bilateral relations have developed steadily.

In 2006, the two-way trade volume between China and Belarus reached 660 million U.S. dollars, a 12.7-percent year-on-year increase.

Source:

http://en.ce.cn/National/Politics/200711/05/t20071105_13478081.shtml