BRI could speed up global growth

Speakers at a high profile dialogue said Thursday that the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) could play a vital role in accelerating global economic growth.

Experts from several global think-tanks took part in the dialogue in the run up to the second BR summit meeting, which will be inaugurated here Friday.

It is not for the benefit of a single country, it is to benefit all the partner countries and to meet global deficit, senior Chinese minister Huang Kunming told the discussion.

So far, China has signed 175 documents with 129 countries under the BR initiative, said Mr Huang, who is a politburo member of the ruling Communist Party of China and head of the publicity department.

"BR aims to stop global hegemony and instead of playing zero-same game, it is envisaged ensuring common development on the basis of mutual trust, respect and shared benefit among BR members," Mr Huang said.

Saying that there is misunderstanding about BR in many due to the lack of understanding, the influential Chinese leader urged think-tanks and media to conduct objective research on the impact of BRI.

He also mentioned under the BRI, China is committed to implementing high quality infrastructure programmed in partner countries.

He sought forward-looking recommendations from the civil society for the advancement of BRI, which he said will open up new chapter in development history.

"Public good and interest of the member countries are main focus of BR, so think-tanks and media should join hands to promote BR in an objective way." he added.

Zheng Peiyan, chairman of the China Centre for International Economic Exchange stressed the need for

consensus-building among member countries. He also said there should be open access to policy information regarding BR and bidding and tender process should be open to ensure transparency.

Sustainability and quality implementation and environment protection are key to the success of BRI, he said.

He urged the experts to create a window to let the world properly understand the importance of BRI

to remove the misunderstanding about it.

Yokio Hatoyama, former prime minister of Japan, emphasised closer ties between Japan and China to gain trade benefit.

It is critical to creating an exclusive Asian community to ensure regional prosperity, he said.

President of Xinhua News Agency Cai Mingzhao said a quarter of the world's think-tanks are within the BR belt.

So they can help in creating a favourable environment for development through conducting objective study on BR.

Former Pakistani prime minister Shaukat Aziz said BR can be "true game changer" for the development of the world.

Under BR, China is expected to be connected to the mouth of the Gulf in much more efficient way.

He said a multi-polar world is better than unipolar world to promote peace.

"This initiative will boost growth, help create jobs in the member countries" he noted.

BR is an opportunity to implement the UN sustainable development goals among its member countries, he observed.

Former Czec prime minister Jiri Paroubek, among others, spoke on the occasion.

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