Xi Jinping stresses comprehensively advancing high-quality Belt and Road cooperation

Beijing: Chinese President Xi Jinping has stressed comprehensively advancing high-quality cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks when addressing the fourth symposium on Belt and Road construction work, CGTN reported.

It is imperative to strengthen strategic confidence, maintain strategic focus and act courageously with a sense of responsibility to create a brighter future for Belt and Road cooperation, Xi said.

Since the initiative was put forth in 2013, major achievements have been made in Belt and Road cooperation, which contributed to enhancing China’s friendship with participating countries and promoting their economic and social development, Xi said.

Noting that the world has entered a new period of turbulence and change in recent years, he urged efforts to appropriately manage all types of risks and challenges and effectively address the impact of geopolitical conflicts while advancing high-quality Belt and Road cooperation.

It is necessary to properly handle the relationship between strengthening participating countries’ sense of fulfilment and ensuring the benefits for China, Xi said, calling for concrete measures to safeguard China’s overseas interests.

So far, China has signed BRI cooperation documents with over 150 countries and over 30 international organizations.

Data from the Ministry of Commerce showed that by the end of 2023, Chinese companies had established 17,000 overseas enterprises in countries participating in the BRI, with direct investment stock exceeding $330 billion, while the overseas economic and trade cooperation zones built under the initiative had created 530,000 local jobs.

Xi has attended previous editions of the symposium, held in 2016, 2018 and 2021 respectively.

During Monday’s symposium, Xi pointed out that the Belt and Road cooperation has entered a new period of high-quality development.

He stressed adhering to the principle of “planning together, building together and benefiting together,” the philosophy of open, green and clean cooperation, and the goal of pursuing high-standard, people-centered and sustainable cooperation.

Focusing on enhancing connectivity, efforts should be made to continuously create new space for win-win development at a higher level and with greater resilience and sustainability, Xi said.

He emphasized the need to strengthen the mechanisms for high-quality Belt and Road cooperation and improve the planning, coordination and management mechanisms.

Xi called for perseverance to turn blueprints into reality and courage to overcome all kinds of risks and challenges in unswervingly advancing high-quality Belt and Road cooperation to make greater contributions to the development of a human community with a shared future.