Chinese President Xi Jinping promised $40 billion to help Asian nations improve trade links in a new effort to assert to improve connectivity in the region, reports BSS.
Xi made the pledge in a meeting with leaders of Bangladesh, Cambodia, Laos, Mongolia, Myanmar, Pakistan and Tajikistan ahead of this week's Asia-Pacific economic summit, state media reported Sunday.
The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation gathering brings together leaders of the United States, China, Japan and 18 other economies.
Beijing has launched a series of initiatives this year aimed at reducing what it sees as Western-dominated regional and global trade, finance and security structures.
The latest effort, the "Silk Road Fund," will finance infrastructure and cooperation in industry and finance to link Asian economies, Xi said in the meeting.
"Efforts by a single or several countries are far from adequate," said Xi, according to China's official Xinhua News Agency. "Only by building extensive partnerships where all will think and work in unison can we expect to achieve positive results."
Linking Asian countries is "not merely about building roads and bridges or making linear connection of different places," Xi was quoted as saying.
China's outbound investment will exceed $1.25 trillion over the next 10 years, while the country will import more than $10 trillion worth of goods and send more than 500 million tourists abroad over next five years, Xi said.
China commits $40b for new \\\'Silk Route\\\'
FE Team | Published: November 10, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00
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