Participants who took part in the fourth symposium on Belt and Road construction work have hailed Chinese President Xi Jinping's vision in proposing the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and vowed to be more proactive in the face of new challenges while advancing cooperation with BRI partners.
Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, attended the symposium which was held in Beijing on Monday, highlighting the achievements that have been made since the landmark BRI was first proposed back in 2013.
In an important speech during the symposium, Xi pointed out that the Belt and Road cooperation has entered a new period of high-quality development and stressed that promoting high-quality Belt and Road cooperation has both opportunities and challenges in the face of a grave and complicated international situation, but said that overall, the opportunities outweigh the challenges.
As an expert in international relations and one of the speakers at Monday's symposium, Xing Guangcheng, director of Chinese Borderland Studies under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said the BRI builds on China's on developmental success of the past decades and serves as a vehicle for helping the world work together to build a better future.
"China's achievements over more than 40 years of reform and opening up have been made possible with the help of a favorable international environment. After achieving remarkable success, we also hope to take on global responsibilities. Building a community with a shared future for all mankind is the strategic goal we have proposed. It also requires a framework for implementation, and that is the Belt and Road Initiative," he said.
Another speaker at the symposium, Timmy Feng, an experienced business leader in providing cross-border trade and logistics solutions, believes the BRI has proven a pivotal platform for cooperation, delivering mutual benefits to all partners.
"I believe its greatest role is that, within this framework, we have stronger reasons to engage in better and fairer exchanges with our trade partners. As General Secretary Xi mentioned yesterday, what we seek is win-win, not just China winning, but our partner countries winning as well," said Feng, chairman of the YXE Trading Services Group
In his speech, Xi noted that the world has entered a new period of turbulence and change in recent years, and 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
This message resonated strongly with the two participants, who vowed to work to overcome difficulties and strengthen partnerships along the Belt and Road.
"Our international environment has entered a new period of turbulence, and in the process of jointly building the BRI, challenges have undoubtedly increased. But the general secretary has assessed that opportunities outweigh challenges. Therefore, we must stick to the blueprint, and work consistently to advance the initiative," said Xing.
"In accordance with the spirit of the general secretary's message yesterday, we will become more up to standard. In the past 11 years, our focus has been on problem-solving, but in the future, as my enterprise participates in the Belt and Road construction, we may make some business upgrades in partner countries," said Feng.
At present, China has signed BRI cooperation documents with over 150 countries and over 30 international organizations. Data from the Ministry of Commerce also 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 U.S. dollars.
Symposium participants vow greater efforts in Belt and Road construction
