Conference participants to ink host of agreements

The Belt and Road Initiative will continue to offer a viable solution for bolstering global governance and infusing robust momentum into the world's economic growth, China's top foreign trade and investment promotion agency said on Monday.

With the Belt and Road CEO Conference set to be held in Beijing on Tuesday, Yu Jianlong, vice-chairman of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, or CCPIT, one of the conference organizers, said agreements on a significant number of practical cooperation projects, involving domestic as well as foreign partners, will be signed during the conference.

"These projects span 68 countries and regions and encompass various industries, including infrastructure, clean energy, artificial intelligence, biopharmaceuticals, financial services, modern agriculture and rail transportation," Yu said on Monday. In terms of the number of projects, the countries involved and the deal amounts, the projects significantly surpass the last CEO conference, which was held in Beijing in 2019, he added.

The conference is expected to bring together more than 1,200 participants.

Over the past decade, the BRI has contributed to the development of over 3,000 cooperative projects worldwide and has been a driving force behind the substantial expansion of the China-Europe freight train service, the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor and the Air Silk Road, Yu said.

The BRI has also brought valuable opportunities for the development of participant countries, providing support in poverty alleviation, job creation and improving people's livelihoods, in line with the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, said Zhao Ping, dean of the CCPIT Academy.

Over the past decade, Chinese companies have created more than 420,000 jobs in overseas economic and trade cooperation zones in countries involved in the BRI, data from the Beijing-based CCPIT showed.

Jiangsu General Science Technology, a tire manufacturer based in Wuxi, Jiangsu province, said that more than half of its sales revenue today is generated by the markets of economies participating in the Belt and Road.

As big-ticket infrastructure and manufacturing projects gain traction in these countries, the logistics and transportation sector is experiencing sustained growth. This expansion has resulted in a substantial surge in demand within the tire market, said Zhang Gaorong, executive vice-president of Jiangsu General Science Technology.

China's trade with economies involved in the BRI rose 3.1 percent year-on-year to 14.32 trillion yuan ($1.96 trillion) in the first three quarters of 2023, accounting for 46.5 percent of its total foreign trade value during this period, according to the General Administration of Customs.