Since the beginning of this year, high-quality progress has been made in building the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. Smooth progress has been made in the construction of the China-Laos railway, the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway, the China-Thailand railway and the Budapest-Belgrade railway. At the just-concluded Belt and Road Investment Promotion Conference of the fifth China-Arab States Expo, a total of 13 Belt and Road cooperation projects were signed, involving 3.996 billion yuan... Steady progress has been made in Belt and Road cooperation.
The latest data from the Ministry of Commerce shows that China's investment in countries along the Belt and Road has maintained growth from January to July, and the market for contracted projects is stable. In the first seven months, China's non-financial direct investment in countries along the Belt and Road reached us $11.29 billion, up 9.9% year on year, accounting for 18% of the total in the same period, up 1 percentage point from the same period last year. The value of new projects contracted in b&R countries reached us $64.42 billion, and the turnover reached US $45.26 billion, accounting for 52.3% and 57.6% of the total in the same period, respectively.
Major projects will boost the development of countries along the Belt and Road
"The spread and recurrence of COVID-19 has impacted global investment, but belt and Road cooperation has brought real development dividends to the international community." Ccpit expert committee, the central university of finance and economics, dean of the school of international economy and trade, a large bay area of guangdong institute of the open economy xiao-tao zhang, director of the development research center, in an interview with the China trade news reporter said that the Chinese enterprises "going out", the investment of countries along the "area", created a large number of employment opportunities and jobs for the local, It has improved local infrastructure and promoted the development of local industries. Countries along the Belt and Road show strong willingness to cooperate with other countries on production capacity.
As a major cooperation project under the Belt and Road Initiative, lai-Lai Railway, the first modern double-track standard rail railway in West Africa built by a Chinese company, opened for commercial operation in June this year. The railway connects Lagos, Nigeria's economic center, with Ibadan, an industrial center in the southwest. It has greatly improved the transportation environment in southern Nigeria and opened up the arteries of local economic development. During the peak period of railway construction, the project employed more than 10,000 local employees. Through centralized training and outsourcing of professional institutions, the professional skills of local employees were improved, and a group of infrastructure construction talents with managerial and technical knowledge were cultivated. "Chinese companies have been sincere in helping us, not only by organizing technical training, but also by selecting a group of young engineers to study in China, which will play an important role in the development of Nigeria's national railway," said Shaura, a local employee who is in charge of legal affairs and community coordination for the project.
"With the successful completion of a number of major transportation infrastructure projects, the overall transportation costs in these countries have been reduced and the trade potential has been better utilized, which has promoted the development of trade in the countries concerned, especially with China." Executive director of institute of Beijing normal university, "area" Hu Biliang said, for example, built by Chinese companies achish railway connect Ethiopia and djibouti, Africa's first international electrified railway, and after the operation of the Ethiopia's freight cost reductions and directly through its via djibouti export the goods transport channel of the international market, Promoted its international trade development.
Zhang xiaotao told reporters that with the epidemic under control, the economic activities of countries along the Belt and Road are gradually recovering, especially the developing countries along the belt and Road have a strong demand for infrastructure connectivity, and a new round of international infrastructure cooperation will usher in a period of development opportunities.
Diversified and green investment areas
Since the beginning of this year, China's investment in countries along the Belt and Road has become more diversified. The investment is distributed in a variety of industries, including manufacturing, leasing and business services, wholesale and retail, construction, mining, finance, power production and heat supply, agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry and fishing.
The Minas hydropower station in Ecuador, constructed by Harbin Electric International Engineering Co., Ltd. was handed over to Ecuador in April this year. "Ecuador was heavily dependent on oil for energy. As domestic demand for electricity grows, people realize that clean energy is our future." Gonzalo Uquera, general manager of Ecuador's State electricity company, said the 270-megawatt power plant will generate 1,300 gigawatt hours of clean energy annually, benefiting 220,000 households. "The operation of the Meinas hydropower station reduces thermal power generation, and clean energy contributes to sustainable economic development in Ecuador."
It is understood that China NENGjian Gezhouba Group in recent years, based on the global market, to increase the development of new energy business. In 2021, the company won the bidding and signed contracts for a number of new energy projects, such as Lagos Photovoltaic power station project in Nigeria, Ahafo Photovoltaic power Station project in Ghana, and El Esgrial wind Power Project in Argentina, to promote the green development of energy and power sector under the Belt and Road Initiative.
Zhang said China and countries along the Belt and Road should strengthen cooperation in green infrastructure, green energy and green finance, and promote the building of a fair and reasonable global environmental governance system featuring win-win cooperation. At the same time, the COVID-19 epidemic has highlighted the gap in the medical, health and communication infrastructure of countries along the routes. China can vigorously promote the building of the "Healthy Silk Road" and the "Digital Silk Road" with other countries along the routes. In addition, China and countries along the Belt and Road should deepen innovation and cooperation in new infrastructure, and continue to promote cooperation in the fields of 5G, ARTIFICIAL intelligence, big data and smart cities, enabling traditional international infrastructure projects through science and technology.
"Under the Belt and Road Initiative, China Telecom focuses on promoting the level of international communication connectivity, unimpeded information Silk Road, and gradually formed a multi-level international network pattern with 'global transmission channel + global Internet + global cloud node' as the core." By the end of 2020, China Telecom had set up service agencies in more than 60 countries and regions around the world, with 117 overseas transmission nodes, said Li Zhengmao, general manager of China Telecom.
Zhang said that as China increases investment along the Belt and Road, it should also strengthen the study and judgment of risks arising from the epidemic and geopolitics, improve the belt and Road risk prevention and control and security system, and strengthen legal services to effectively prevent and defuse various risks. We will guide enterprises to strengthen compliance management and guard against and defuse political, economic, security and other risks overseas.
In addition, under the belt and Road cooperation framework, China has signed third-party market cooperation documents with France, Japan, Italy, the UK and other countries in recent years, established third-party market cooperation committees or cooperation working groups with relevant countries, and gradually established and improved inter-governmental coordination systems and cooperation mechanisms. Zhang said that in the future, it is necessary to further deepen international cooperation on production capacity, expand cooperation in third-party markets, build a mutually beneficial system of industrial and supply chain cooperation, and expand two-way trade and investment.
