President Xi Jinping: Promote High-Quality Development of the Belt and Road Initiative

2022-11-10

ByRahul Basharat

At the opening of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), Xi Jinping, the Chinese President, reiterated to invigorate the Belt and Road Initiative with high standards.

The Belt and Road Initiative, the unique initiative which is first proposed by Xi, aims to boost the trade and economic activities across the continents connecting them with a single route.

By the end of July 2022, China has signed cooperation agreements with over 140 countries and more than 30 international organizations under this framework. As of June this year, the investment volume under the Belt and Road Initiative between China and member countries had hit 12 trillion US dollars .

From 2013 to 2021, China’s direct investment in the Belt and Road countries reached 161.3 billion US dollars, with an average annual growth of 5.4%, of which 20.3 billion was invested in 2021, accounting for 17.9% of the total national investment.

By the end of 2021, overseas economic and trade cooperation zones were distributed in 46 countries, with a cumulative investment of 50.7 billion US dollars and a tax fee of 6.6 billion US dollars to the host countries, creating 392,000 local jobs.

Under the Belt and Road Initiative, the China-Laos Railway has been put into operation, and the construction of a number of projects including the China-Thailand Railway has been steadily advanced.

Sun Yeli, spokesperson for the 20th CPC National Congress, said during a news conference held before the meeting that the Belt and Road Initiative has become a popular international public good and an important practical platform to promote the development of a human community with a shared future.

He added that over the past nine years, China has signed cooperation agreements with over 140 countries and more than 30 international organizations under the collaborative initiative. A large number of practical cooperation projects have been implemented, which have made tangible contributions to the development of local economy and the improvement of public well-being.

He said that looking to the future, China will strive for  higher standard of cooperation, investment returns, supply quality, and resilience of development, promoting high-quality development of the Belt and Road initiative through joint efforts so to yield more and better results.

At a recent press conference, Zhao Chenxin, Deputy Director of the National Development and Reform Commission of China, reemphasised the importance of facilitating international cooperation in a pragmatic manner and collaborating in building the Belt and Road with high quality.

According to the World Bank’s forcast, the joint construction of the Belt and Road is expected to lift 7.6 million people around the world from extreme poverty and 32 million out of moderate poverty.

Since the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, China has been actively participated in global anti-epidemic assistance. By  the end of 2021, China had provided more than 2 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines to more than 120 countries and international organizations, a large part of which are for countries along the Belt and Road.

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By Rahul Basharat, correspondent of Pakistan Television Network(PTV)

The author contributed this article to Belt and Road Journalists Network .The views do not necessarily reflect those of Belt and Road Journalists Network.