Chairman of China UnionPay Ge Huayong (4th left back) and President of Belarusbank Viktor Ananich (4th right back) attended the signing ceremony

Against the background of the implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative, UnionPay is making breakthroughs in Belarus. UnionPay International announced today that it has signed a comprehensive collaboration agreement with Belarusbank, the largest commercial bank in Belarus. The two sides have agreed to enable all the Bank’s ATMs and merchants to accept UnionPay cards within next year, and carry out cooperation in local card issuance and the promotion of UnionPay innovative products. Chairman of China UnionPay Ge Huayong and President of Belarusbank Viktor Ananich attended the signing ceremony.

UnionPay International has reached cooperation with BPS-Sberbank in card acceptance and issuance in this April. Since this July, UnionPay International has kept frequent communication with the government and the Central Bank of Belarus as well as many local institutions, and has reached consensus on promoting UnionPay business development and jointly upgrading the local bankcard switch network. The agreement signing this time marks the launch of the UnionPay business by the largest commercial bank in Belarus, and will enable the UnionPay acceptance network to cover 40% of the local ATMs and merchants soon.

Ge Huayong said, with the implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative, there has been a surge in the number of Chinese tourists and businessmen visiting Belarus. This brings about the opportunity for UnionPay to make breakthroughs in Belarus. First, UnionPay will realize full acceptance in Belarus so as to deliver convenient payment services not only to Chinese enterprises and people but also visiting cardholders from Russia and other countries nearby. Second, UnionPay will promote local card issuance to offer a new payment option for the local residents. Third, UnionPay will carry out cooperation with the local switch network, Belkart, to jointly upgrade the payment network in Belarus, utilizing UnionPay’s chip card standard and experience in building payment networks, and explore the possibility of co-building a switch network platform to support the payment industry upgrade of the region.

Viktor Ananich said, Belarusbank is ready to continue the dialogue with financial community of the People’s Republic of China regarding cooperation in all areas of banking services. The Bank is actively expanding cooperation with financial institutions of the People’s Republic of China in various business spheres. We attach great importance to this meeting with UnionPay International and believe that it will help us open new business horizons. Our fruitful cooperation will contribute to the further development of relations between the Republic of Belarus and the People’s Republic of China.

As an important country along the Silk Road Economic Belt, Belarus has carried out in-depth cooperation with China in fields of trade and infrastructure construction, and is thus in need of better cross-border payment service. At present, Gazprombank has enabled its ATMs and merchants to accept UnionPay cards, while BPS-Sberbank is accelerating the launch of the UnionPay business.