BEIJING: China held a high-level meeting on international cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in the Asia-Pacific region via video link.
China is willing to work hand in hand with all parties to continue building the Belt and Road with high quality, and building closer partnerships for health cooperation, connectivity, green development, and openness and inclusiveness to provide more opportunities for all parties, Chinese State Councilor, and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Wednesday.
Wang said that, since the BRI was proposed in 2013, this initiative has made positive progress with the joint efforts of all parties.
Over the past eight years, 140 countries have signed cooperation agreements with China under the BRI, with more and more cooperative partners, Chinese President Xi Jinping said Wednesday in a written message to the Asia and Pacific High-level Conference on Belt and Road Cooperation.
All parties have actively promoted policy coordination, connectivity of infrastructure and facilities, unimpeded trade, financial integration, and people-to-people bonds, launched many practical cooperation projects that benefit the people, established a comprehensive and compound connectivity partnership, and created a new prospect for common development, Xi said.
In the past eight years, the BRI has brought huge opportunities and bonuses for other countries, becoming the widest and largest international cooperation platform, said Wang.
Facing the sudden COVID-19 pandemic, the Belt and Road cooperation has shown its strong resilience and vitality, he added.
Wang put forward four suggestions for building the Belt and Road with high quality.
All sides should continue to deepen international vaccine cooperation, strengthen connectivity cooperation, promote green development cooperation, and push forward free trade regionally and globally, according to Wang.
He said that China is willing to work with Asia-Pacific countries to provide solutions for the global fight against the pandemic, inject dynamism into global connectivity, convey confidence in the sustainable recovery of the world economy, and make greater contributions in building a community with a shared future in the Asia-Pacific region and for humanity.
Colombian President Ivan Duque said that Colombia appreciates China’s initiative to make vaccines a global public good, and believes that vaccine cooperation is in the common interests of all countries. Political, economic, and financing barriers should not be set up under any circumstances.
The participants support China in convening this meeting, saying that this meeting is timely and important, which will help all parties deepen cooperation in coping with global challenges such as fighting the pandemic, economic recovery, and climate change, and help promote new progress in the international cooperation under the BRI.
Nepal has not put forward any project yet. The B-3W project has been the subject of much debate in China.
(with inputs from Agencies)
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