When foreign investors hear “Great Stone Industrial Park”, two assumptions usually follow, and both are wrong in ways that matter. The first is that it is a Chinese-only zone: it is the China–Belarus park, so surely it is meant for Chinese companies. The second is that it is just another free economic zone (FEZ), like the six regional FEZs Belarus already has.

Neither is true. Great Stone is open to companies from any country: its residents already come from around fifteen countries, including the US, EU member states, Switzerland and Russia as well as China and Belarus. The “China–Belarus” in the name reflects who built and co-manages the park, not who may invest there. Nor is it just another FEZ. It is a separate, larger and markedly more generous regime, widely regarded as one of the best in the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), with a ten-year profit-tax holiday, exemption from property and land tax until 2062, a free customs zone, duty-free access to the EAEU market and, unusually for a foreign investor in Belarus, the right to own land. But there is a catch that people tend to underestimate: Great Stone is not for everyone. It is designed for substantial manufacturing, high-tech, pharmaceutical, logistics and R&D projects backed by real capital, not for a small trading or service company. This article covers the incentives, the conditions and who the park is really for.

What Great Stone is

Start with the facts, because the scale is part of the point. Great Stone is a China–Belarus special economic zone covering roughly 112 square kilometres, about 25 km from Minsk, next to the international airport and on the Berlin–Moscow transport corridor. It was established in 2012 and received its current, enhanced regime under a 2017 presidential decree. Legally, it is a territorial unit of Belarus with its own special regime for doing business, which runs until 2062. The park has been recognised internationally as a leading special economic zone and named among the world’s best and fastest-growing free zones. That is worth knowing, because it signals a serious, long-term platform rather than a marketing label. In short, it is the most substantial preferential regime Belarus offers, and it is built around manufacturing, logistics and research.

Location and infrastructure: why the site matters

A special regime is only as good as the place where it operates, and Great Stone’s location is a genuine part of the offer. The park lies about 25 km from Minsk, right next to the international airport and on the Berlin–Moscow road and rail corridor. For a manufacturer or logistics operator, that means goods and people move in and out easily, both within the EAEU and beyond it. The site is large, some 112 square kilometres, and is planned not as a bare industrial estate but as an “eco-city” built around high-tech, export-oriented industry, with residential, R&D and production zones. The park’s development company provides ready-made engineering and transport infrastructure (roads, utilities, serviced plots), so a resident builds a facility rather than an entire site, and the park administration runs a one-stop shop for the permits and procedures a project needs. For an investor used to assembling land, utilities and approvals piece by piece, this combination of location, ready infrastructure and a single administrative point of contact is much of what makes the incentives usable in practice rather than merely attractive on paper.

Open to any country — the Chinese-only myth

The most common misconception is worth clearing up first, because it needlessly deters non-Chinese investors. Any company, whatever its country of origin, can become a Great Stone resident, and the park already hosts residents from around fifteen countries, among them the United States, EU member states, Switzerland and Russia, alongside China and Belarus. The “China–Belarus” in the name describes who built and co-manages the park and the strategic partnership behind it; it places no restriction on who may invest. So if you are a European manufacturer or an American pharmaceutical company put off by the name, read on: the door is open to you on the same terms, and a fair number of your peers are already there.

The incentives

This is the main attraction, and the package is genuinely strong. Profit tax is 0% for ten years from the first profit, then half the national rate (9%) until 2062. Property and land are exempt from tax until 2062. There is a five-year dividend tax holiday (ten years for a major investment project). Employees pay 9% income tax instead of the national 13%, also until 2062. The free customs zone exempts the equipment, components and materials imported for the project from import duty and VAT, and gives duty-free access to the EAEU market of roughly 183 million consumers. Residents can lease land for up to 99 years or own it outright, and privately owned land is exempt from land tax until 2062. That is notable, because foreign land ownership is otherwise heavily restricted in Belarus. Construction and equipment costs qualify for a full deduction, and the administration works on a one-stop-shop basis with infrastructure already in place. Taken together, the package is regarded as one of the best in the EAEU, and the long horizon to 2062 is a large part of the reason.

Customs and the EAEU: a closer look

The free customs zone deserves a closer look, because for a manufacturer or trading business it can matter as much as the tax holidays. Foreign goods such as equipment, components and raw materials can be brought into the park under the free customs zone procedure without import duty or VAT, so a resident can equip and supply its production without the usual customs costs at the border. The way out matters just as much. Great Stone sits inside the EAEU customs union, so goods produced there reach the market of Belarus, Russia, Kazakhstan, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan, roughly 183 million consumers, duty-free, as internal trade rather than imports. For a company whose model is “import inputs, manufacture, sell across the region”, this is a powerful combination: inputs come in duty-free, and finished goods go out to the rest of the bloc duty-free. It is one of the clearest reasons a manufacturing or assembly business chooses Great Stone over a base outside the union. The details (which goods, which procedures, what paperwork) are technical and worth taking advice on, but the principle is simple: the park is designed to let goods flow in and then out into the EAEU with minimal customs friction. One caveat belongs here. The customs advantage is strongest for trade within the union. Exports beyond it, to the EU and elsewhere, depend on the wider trade and sanctions environment rather than on the park regime itself, so an investor whose main market lies outside the EAEU should weigh that separately. Within the EAEU, though, the combination of a free customs zone and a single market is exactly the kind of structural advantage that makes a regional production base worthwhile.

The conditions

The flip side of a generous regime is a real entry threshold, and at Great Stone it has two parts: investment and sector. To become a resident, you need an investment project that meets one of three thresholds: at least US5million(withnotimelimit),atleastUS500,000 invested within the first three years, or at least US$500,000 for an R&D project. The project must also fall within a priority sector: mechanical engineering, electronics and telecommunications, fine chemistry, biotechnology and pharmaceuticals, new materials, logistics, e-commerce and big data, medical products and services, or research and development. In other words, this is a manufacturing, high-tech, logistics and R&D park, entered through the park administration, not a general-purpose zone for any kind of business. The threshold and the sector list act as a filter, and they are what make the incentives affordable for the state: substantial investment in priority sectors in exchange for exceptional long-term terms.

Becoming a resident: the process step by step

As a process, joining Great Stone follows a clear path. You put forward an investment project in a priority sector and commit to the required investment (US5million,orUS500,000 for R&D or if invested within three years). You apply to the park administration, the state body that registers residents and runs the one-stop shop. It assesses the project and, if it qualifies, grants resident status and issues a resident’s certificate. You incorporate a Belarusian legal entity located in the park and arrange your land, either on a lease of up to 99 years or as an outright purchase, through the joint development company, which provides serviced plots and infrastructure. From there, you build or lease your facility, import equipment under the free customs zone regime and start operating under the incentive package. Governance works on three levels: intergovernmental coordination between Belarus and China, the park administration for residents and procedures, and the development company for land and infrastructure. For a resident, though, the main point of contact is the administration’s single window. As always, eligibility turns on two questions: the investment threshold and the priority sector. Clear those, and the process is designed to be straightforward. The one-stop shop is more than a slogan: the administration is a dedicated state body set up to handle residents’ procedures from start to finish, which spares a foreign investor much of the agency-by-agency legwork that setting up elsewhere can involve. That does not remove the need for local advice. Structuring the project, meeting the threshold in the right form, drafting the resident’s commitments and arranging the land all benefit from experience. But the administrative path is more streamlined than many investors expect, which is partly why the park promotes its ease of entry as much as its incentives.

Who it’s for — and who it isn’t

Put the two sides together and the fit becomes clear. Great Stone is for serious manufacturers, pharmaceutical and biotech companies, logistics operators, and high-tech and R&D investors from any country who are ready to commit real capital in a priority sector and want a long-term, low-tax production base serving the EAEU, on land they can own. For that kind of investor, few regimes in the region can compete. It is not for a small trading company, a consultancy or a micro-business in services: the threshold and the sector focus rule those out, and pretending otherwise wastes everyone’s time. If you run a small IT business, the Hi-Tech Park (HTP) is the regime built for you; if you are a smaller or regional business, one of the six free economic zones or an ordinary company is a better fit. An honest match is what matters: Great Stone is an excellent tool for the projects it was designed for and the wrong one for everything else.

Great Stone vs the alternatives, and how to become a resident

It helps to see where Great Stone sits among the options. Compared with the six regional FEZs (lighter incentives, a broader range of activities, regional locations), the HTP (IT only) and an ordinary company (no threshold, no special incentives), Great Stone wins decisively on the depth of its incentives and on land ownership, but only for a large manufacturing or high-tech project that clears the threshold and fits a priority sector. To become a resident, you bring a qualifying investment project to the park administration, which registers residents on a one-stop-shop basis; from there, you incorporate, obtain resident status and gain access to the regime. For a group that combines several activities, Great Stone can be one part of a wider structure. If you are considering it, start with two simple questions: does your project clear the investment threshold, and does it fall within a priority sector? If the answer to both is yes, we can take it from there.

Great Stone vs FEZ vs HTP: the fuller picture

Because investors often weigh these regimes against each other, a fuller comparison is useful. The six free economic zones are spread across Belarus’s regions and offer lighter incentives, a broader range of eligible activities and lower entry thresholds, which makes them a good fit for a mid-sized or regional manufacturer or exporter. The Hi-Tech Park is for IT only, with its own extensive tax exemptions and a focus on talent and software: the right home for a software or digital business, and the wrong one for a factory. An ordinary company has no threshold and no special incentives, and suits any activity of any size where the special regimes do not fit or are not worth the commitment. Great Stone sits at the top end for scale and depth of incentives, with the most generous package, land ownership and the longest horizon, but it is reserved for substantial manufacturing, high-tech, pharmaceutical, logistics and R&D projects that clear its threshold and fit its sectors. So the question is not which regime is best in the abstract but which one matches your project’s size, sector and ambitions. Great Stone is the answer only when the project is large enough, and in the right sector, to justify it.

A worked example: a foreign manufacturer

Picture a European electronics manufacturer planning a regional production base. It commits to an investment project comfortably above the threshold, in a priority sector, and is granted Great Stone resident status. It buys a serviced plot in the park, owning land as it could not elsewhere in Belarus, and builds a factory, importing its production line and components under the free customs zone regime without duty or VAT. Once it makes a profit, it pays no profit tax for ten years, then half the national rate until 2062. Its property and land are tax-exempt until 2062, its staff pay 9% income tax, and its finished goods sell duty-free across the EAEU market of 183 million consumers as internal trade. Compared with a base outside the union, the difference over a decade is substantial, and that is exactly the calculation the regime is designed to win. The company’s home country played no part in its eligibility; the size and sector of its project did. That is Great Stone working as intended: a serious investor from anywhere, in the right sector, makes a real commitment in exchange for a genuinely exceptional long-term regime and gets a European-standard production base inside the EAEU customs union. Change the sector and the same logic holds. Swap the electronics manufacturer for a pharmaceutical or biotech company, or for a logistics operator building a regional distribution hub, and the package of tax holidays, owned land and duty-free flows works the same way, because the regime is built around priority activities rather than any single industry. What stays constant in every version is the trade-off at its core: a real, substantial investment in a priority sector in exchange for the best terms Belarus offers, over a horizon long enough to plan a decade of operations around.

Common misconceptions

A handful of beliefs come up again and again, and each is worth correcting. That Great Stone is only for Chinese companies: it is open to any country, with residents from around fifteen. That it is just a bigger FEZ: it is a separate, more generous regime that includes land ownership, which the FEZs do not offer. That it is only for huge multinationals: the R&D and three-year routes start at US500,000,notonlyatUS5 million. That it is only for heavy industry: the priority list includes pharmaceuticals, biotech, logistics, e-commerce, big data and R&D. That the incentives are guaranteed no matter what: they depend on becoming and remaining a resident with a qualifying project, so obligations come with them. And that the land is free: you can own it and it is exempt from land tax, but you acquire it from the development company. Most of these misconceptions stem either from the name, which suggests China, or from the FEZ comparison, which undersells the park. See it accurately, as a sector-specific regime for serious investment, open to any country and offering the best incentives in Belarus, and you can judge properly whether it fits your project.

Great Stone at a glance

Exceptional long-term incentives in return for serious investment in priority sectors.

*General guide; incentives, thresholds and the sector list can change, so confirm the current terms for your project.

Conclusion

Great Stone is neither Chinese-only nor just another FEZ. It is Belarus’s most generous special regime, open to companies from any country, with tax holidays to 2062, a free customs zone, duty-free access to the EAEU and the right to own land. It is built for serious manufacturing, high-tech, pharmaceutical, logistics and R&D investors who commit real capital in a priority sector. If that describes you, few regimes in the region can compete; if you run a small service business, the HTP or an ordinary company is a better fit. So the honest test comes down to two questions: does your project clear the investment threshold, and does it fall within a priority sector?

If you are weighing up a manufacturing, pharmaceutical, logistics or high-tech project in the EAEU and want to know whether Great Stone fits (and, if it does, want help setting up the residency and the company), tell us about your project and its numbers. We will give you an honest assessment and handle the rest. Get in touch, and we will start with the two questions that decide it.