BEIJING -- Experts and scholars worldwide hailed Chinese President Xi Jinping's just concluded visit to Belarus, saying it would greatly boost the construction of the Silk Road Economic Belt and bring about new opportunities for pragmatic cooperation between the two countries and beyond.

Xi wrapped up his three-day state visit to Belarus on Tuesday, the first by a Chinese head of state in 14 years.

The Chinese president's visit is of significant importance to Minsk as China not only respects Belarus, but also brings it much-needed projects and funds, said Tatiana, an economic news editor at the Belarusian Telegraph Agency (BelTA).

It has laid the foundation for the future breakthrough of China-Belarus cooperation, said Sergey Kizima, head of the International Relations Department of the Academy of Public Administration (APA) under the aegis of Belarusian president.

The cooperation agreements signed during the visit would create lots of job opportunities for Belarus and facilitate the entry of Belarusian products to the Chinese market, Kizima added.

Irina Novikova, head of the Department of Economic Theory at the APA, said that the China-initiated Silk Road Economic Belt is directly beneficial for the development of Belarusian logistics, transportation and telecommunication.

On the other hand, the economic belt provided China with a transit platform to the markets of Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) and European Union countries, Novikova added.

Pavel Lis, deputy vice-rector of the Research and Development Department at the Belarusian State University of Informatics and Radioelectronics, said Xi's visit is significant for bilateral cooperation, especially in the fields of education and technology.

Alexander Gusev, director of the Center for Strategic Development of Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) Countries, said the visit confirmed that Belarus has been China's strategic partner, and its importance for Beijing will only increase, taking into account the Chinese project of the Silk Road Economic Belt.

China-Belarus trade now amounts to 4.5 billion US dollars. This is considerable amount of money for Belarus, Gusev said.

Belarus is a "docking module" between China and the European Union and the China-Belarus joint Industrial Park "Great Stone" is an important step to carry out that docking, he added.

Belarus, a country along the Silk Road Economic Belt as well as a member of EEC, could serve as a bridge between the Belt and the EEC, said Dzhumakadrov Akeneev, a renowned economist of Kyrgyzstan.