BEIJING: Chinese President Xi Jinping welcomed Prime Minister Imran Khan as he arrived for a session of the Second Belt and Road Forum.
PM Imran attended the leaders’ roundtable meeting at the Second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation at International Convention Center, Yanqi Lake in Beijing.
The Chinese president urged world leaders to expedite work for basic infrastructure and industrial development to meet the challenges of the economy being faced by the world.
Addressing the leaders’ roundtable meeting, the Chinese president called on countries to open their borders in order to boost trade and to upgrade the living standards of people.
Noting the Belt and Road (BRI) initiative as an important forum for the economic development of the entire region, the Chinese president said BRI has achieved great progress since the first Belt and Road Forum in May 2017.
“CPEC, one of BRI’s major components and one of its earliest manifestations, has made substantial progress. Pakistan’s energy supplies have increased massively and our critical infrastructure gaps are being plugged,” he said.
“China looks forward to working with all parties to improve the concept of cooperation and focus on building the Belt and Road with high quality on the basis of extensive consultation and the rule of law, joint efforts, shared benefits and equal opportunities for all,” Xi said.
Xi added that the BRI focuses on infrastructure interconnection, accelerating intelligent manufacturing and cooperating in frontier areas of the digital economy.
The Chinese president also called for joint efforts to meet the challenges of climate change.
A day earlier, President Xi during the opening summit of the Second Belt and Road Forum had said the BRI “must be green and sustainable”, adding that the massive infrastructure and trade plan would deliver “high-quality” growth for all.
Xi in his keynote speech on Friday said that environmental protection must underpin the initiative “to protect the common home we live in”.
“Operate in the sun and fight corruption together with zero tolerance,” Xi said.
“Building high-quality, sustainable, risk-resistant, reasonably priced, and inclusive infrastructure will help countries to fully utilize their resource endowments,” he said.
