China to hold second BRF from today

BEIJING, Apr 24 (Xinhua): China will hold its 2nd Belt and Road Forum (BRF) from Thursday to showcase its trillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
37 heads of the state and government, including from Pakistan, would attend the three-day grand event. India will not join the forum for the second consecutive time.
The BRI was launched by Chinese President Xi Jinping when he came to power in 2013. It aims to link Southeast Asia, Central Asia, the Gulf region, Africa and Europe with a network of land and sea routes.
The CPEC, which connects Gwadar Port in Pakistan's Balochistan with China's Xinjiang province, is the flagship project of Xi's ambitious BRI.
India has been boycotting the BRI to protest over the USD 60 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) being laid through the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
Besides India's protests over the CPEC, China's doling out of huge sums of money specially to smaller countries raised concerns after Beijing acquired Sri Lanka's strategic Hambantota port on a 99-year lease as a debt swap.