BEIJING: On Oct 3, 2013, President Xi Jinping proposed building the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road during a speech at the Indonesian parliament. A month earlier, he had put forward the strategic framework for building the Silk Road Economic Belt.
The Belt and Road Initiative, as the two together are known, has become the most well-received international public good and the largest platform for international cooperation over the past eight years. As of Aug 23, more than 200 cooperation agreements with 172 countries, regions and organizations have been signed under the BRI framework.
As the world faces the combined impacts of changes unseen in a century and the COVID-19 pandemic, the BRI has demonstrated strong vitality and creativity and will continue to provide impetus for the global economic recovery and contribute to global sustainable development, observers said. Xie Fuzhan, president of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that Belt and Road construction, which aims for the common development and prosperity of all, has brought concrete benefits to countries and regions along the routes. The outcomes in the past eight years have shown that the BRI conforms to the trend of the times, the law of development and the interests of all countries, thus enjoying broad prospects, Xie said at a seminar in September.
Statistics from the Ministry of Commerce show that from 2013 to 2020, the trade volume of goods between China and countries participating in the BRI surpassed $9.2 trillion. China’s direct foreign investment to participating countries reached $136 billion, and 330,000 local jobs were created by BRI programs invested in by Chinese companies.
“Thanks to the BRI, East Africa now has its first motorway, the Maldives has built its first inter-island bridge, Kazakhstan is connected to the sea, Southeast Asia is constructing a high-speed railway, and the Eurasian (region) is benefiting from the longest-distance freight train service,” Cong Peiwu, the Chinese ambassador to Canada, said in June.
The fruitful results reflect President Xi’s comments at a welcoming banquet in honor of guests attending the first Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in 2017.
“The Belt and Road Initiative embodies our shared dream for a better life. The initiative weaves into a common vision the dreams of different countries and peoples. We will work to translate this vision into reality and deliver greater happiness and well-being to our people,” Xi said. Despite the pandemic, China’s nonfinancial outbound direct investment in 58 countries participating in the BRI rose 18.3 percent to $17.79 billion in 2020, and none of the key projects involved in the BRI have been suspended due to COVID-19, according to Chinese authorities.
– The Daily Mail-China Daily News exchange item
