A reception was held in Beijing on Friday to mark the 15th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Belarus.

Addressing the reception hosted by the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC), Chen Haosu, president of the association, said the past 15 years had proved that China and Belarus were true friends and reliable economic partners. He said that obvious achievements had been made in cooperation in the fields of economy, trade, science and technology, culture and education.

Cooperation at the local level is also expanding, said Chen, adding that six pairs of provinces or municipalities in China and Belarus have developed sisterhood relations.

Belarusian Ambassador to China Anatoly Afanasievich Tozik also spoke highly of the bilateral relations, especially the growing economic relations between the two countries.

Tozik said bilateral trade had soared from "tens of millions of US dollars in 1992 to hundreds of millions of US dollars in 2006", without giving any specific details.

China and Belarus forged diplomatic ties on Jan. 20 of 1992.

Source: Xinhua