Shanghai (ZXZC)-On Nov. 17, Geely Automobile (Belarus) Co., Ltd., the first automotive joint venture between China and Belarus, held an inauguration ceremony for its CKD(Complete Knock Down) assembly plant as well as an off-line ceremony for its first mass produced model, the Geely Atlas in Borisov, Belarus, with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko in attendance.

During the ceremony, Lukashenko expressed that he had dreamed that one day Belarus can manufacture its own cars. Now, thanks to the help of China, Belarus realizes the dream of manufacturing cars.

On that day, the first Geely Atlas produced in Belarus rolled off the production line. President Alexander Lukashenko test drove the model and said that in the future they will intend to replace the imported official vehicles with the Belarus-made Geely models gradually.

In 2013, under the One Belt and One Road initiative, Zhejiang Geely Holding Group and Belarus jointly established the Geely Automobile (Belarus) Co., Ltd. At the suburb area of Borisov, they built up a CKD assembly plant consisting of coating, welding, and final assembling in less than 30 months. With China's most advanced manufacturing and managing technologies, the first phase of the plant will have an annual production capacity of 60,000 units.