Economic Watch: Belt and Road initiative drives China’s opening-up efforts

BEIJING ( Xinhua) — The Belt and Road Initiative is driving China’s opening-up efforts and unimpeded trade will be a key topic at the Belt and Road forum for international cooperation to be held in Beijing this May, a senior Chinese trade offi cial said. SOLID PROGRESS China has pushed forward the Belt and Road Initiative with solid progress, and stepped up policy coordination with countries along the Belt and Road in 2016, the then Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng told reporters.

The initiative, proposed by China in 2013, aims to build a trade and infrastructure network connecting Asia with Europe and Africa along the ancient Silk Road trade routes.

In the spirit of regional connectivity, China has initiated railway, road, civil aviation, electricity and telecommunications projects across the “Belt and Road,” Gao told reporters.

Despite anemic growth of global market demand, China’s combined imports and exports with countries along the Belt and Road topped 6.3 trillion yuan (about $916 billion) in 2016, up 0.6 percent from 2015, Gao said.

The initiative offers one solution to global economic difficulties and uncertainties worsened by a sluggish recovery, downturns in trade and investment, a lack of growth momentum and setbacks in globalization, economists believed.

Chinese businesses helped build 56 economic and trade cooperation zones in about 20 countries along the Belt and Road with a combined investment surpassing $18.5 billion, generating nearly $1.1 billion in tax revenue and about 180,000 jobs in those countries, Gao said.

The Belt and Road has delivered promising early results that have benefited other countries and regions — showing the great development potential of the initiative, he said. INTERNATIONAL FORUM

The Belt and Road forum for international cooperation will be held in Beijing in May.

“This will be the first high-level international forum on the Belt and Road,” said Gao.

The event is important to address regional and global economic problems and facilitate more invigorated, inclusive and sustainable economic globalization, he stressed.

China said it will press ahead with the Belt and Road Initiative as one of three major strategies, along with Beijing- Tianjin- Hebei coordinated development and the Yangtze River Economic Belt Initiative, according to a statement issued after the Central Economic Work Conference held in December 2016, during which Chinese leaders and senior officials gathered to map out priorities for 2017.

Charity group launches Belt and Road first-aid project

( Xinhua) — The Chinese Red Cross Foundation (CRCF) launched a first-aid project under the China- proposed Belt and Road Initiative in Beijing.

The project will offer first-aid resources, including ambulances and medical professionals, and public health services along the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, a 3,000-kilometer network of roads, railways and pipelines linking Kashgar in northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and southwest Pakistan’s Gwadar Port.

The first emergency medical center under the project will be built in Gwadar Port, according the CRCF.

The project is sponsored by the CRCF Silk Road Bo’ai Fund, a non-profit program which aims to contribute to the Belt and Road Initiative by providing humanitarian services. The fund was also launched.

As part of the fund, a project on helping children with congenital heart disease in Afghanistan was announced by the CRCF.