Xi opens new Silk Road launch with pledge to spread growth
CHINESE President Xi Jinping yesterday said the Belt and Road Initiative is “the project of the century” that will benefit people across the world.
Xi made the remarks in the keynote speech at the opening of the two-day Belt and Road Forum for International Co-operation.
Named after the historic Silk Road, the Belt and Road Initiative was proposed by Xi in 2013 to chart new territories for international co-operation.
“Spanning thousands of miles and years, the ancient silk routes embody the spirit of peace and co-operation, openness and inclusiveness, mutual learning and mutual benefit,” Xi told an audience of more than 1 500 from across the globe.
“The Silk Road spirit has become a great heritage of human civilisation,” he said.
A total of 29 foreign heads of state and government leaders are attending the forum, including Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Other delegates include officials, entrepreneurs and financiers from over 130 countries, and representatives of key international organisations, such as UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, World Bank president Jim Yong Kim, and managing director of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde.
The US sent a delegation led by Matt Pottinger, special assistant to the president and senior director for Asia at the National Security Council.
The forum, which also features a round-table summit of global leaders today, is one of the premium gatherings in today’s world, and the most prestigious international assembly China has ever inaugurated.
At the centre of its focus is Xi’s grand plan to better combine the rapidly expanding Chinese economy with the development of Asia, Europe and Africa.
Now a catchphrase both domestically and abroad, the Belt and Road Initiative is essentially a new inclusive platform on which countries in Eurasia and beyond can strengthen economic and cultural co-operation to achieve common prosperity.
By linking countries and regions that account for about 60% of the world’s population and 30% of global GDP, the initiative is an example of China offering its own wisdom and solutions to global governance, said Wang Yiwei, a professor at the School of International Relations at Renmin University of China.
“The initiative features inclusive and sustainable growth and takes into account development needs of different countries and regions for common prosperity,” he said. Xinhua