So Far, More Than 37 Heads Of State Have Attended The Belt And Road Summit

On April 19, State Councilor and foreign minister Wang Yi held a briefing for Chinese and foreign media at the Ministry of foreign affairs, announcing that the second belt and Road International Cooperation Summit Forum will be held in Beijing from April 25 to 27. At that time, there will be 38 heads of state and government, nearly 5000 foreign guests from more than 150 countries and more than 90 international organizations.

So far, the heads of state and government of 37 countries have confirmed to attend the round table summit of the forum. At the same time, the president of the United Nations and the Secretary General of the International Monetary Fund will also attend. In addition, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Spain, Japan, South Korea and the European Union will also send high-level representatives appointed by their leaders. This scale has far exceeded the first belt and Road International Cooperation Summit Forum held in May 2017.

This forum is China's most important home diplomacy this year. President Xi Jinping will attend the opening ceremony and deliver a keynote speech, preside over the leaders' round table summit throughout the whole process, and introduce the summit results to Chinese and foreign media after the meeting. During the meeting, China will issue a report on the progress, contributions and prospects of the "belt and road" initiative.

Focusing on the theme of "jointly building the belt and road and creating a better future", this forum has carefully formulated a richer agenda for promoting practical cooperation. The main activities include: 12 sub forums and a entrepreneurs' Conference on the 25th; the opening ceremony and high-level meeting on the 26th; and the leaders' round table Summit on the 27th.

Wang Yiwei, director of the Institute of international affairs of Renmin University of China, pointed out in an interview with the 21st century economic reporter on April 19 that the opening of the second forum will mark the transition of the belt and road initiative from the stage of "freehand brushwork" to the stage of "meticulous painting".

It is understood that in addition to holding six sub forums on the theme of five links and think tank exchanges, the forum also added sub forums with the themes of "clean Silk Road", "digital silk road", "green road", "innovation road", "local cooperation" and "overseas economic and trade cooperation zone".

"After six years of development, more and more developed countries have joined in, bringing high standards. At the same time, the domestic economy has shifted from high-speed growth to high-quality development. We have accelerated the opening up of financial and other service industries, and promoted the development of the belt and road initiative to high-quality direction. We have paid more and more attention to the" soft link "and the development of third-party markets Road. " Wang Yiwei said.

Wang Yiwei stressed that under the guidance of the principles of consultation, co construction and sharing, the belt and road initiative is expected to become a new platform for global governance cooperation, promote the development of a new type of globalization that is open, inclusive, inclusive, balanced and win-win, and strive to build a community of shared future for mankind.

"Number of members" increased

Over the past six years, the circle of friends of the belt and road initiative has been expanding. At the briefing, Wang Yi announced that at present, 126 countries and 29 international organizations have signed the "belt and road" cooperation agreement with China. Two years ago, on the eve of the first forum, China only signed cooperation agreements with more than 40 countries and international organizations.

Not only is the number of members increasing, but the influence of the belt and road initiative is also increasing. Recently, Italy has become the first G7 country to join the "belt and road" circle of friends. Greece has joined the China CEE cooperation mechanism, upgrading the "16 + 1 cooperation" to "17 + 1 cooperation", which has caused great repercussions in western countries.

In Wang Yiwei's view, Italy's formal participation in the construction of the "belt and road" is no less significant than that of Britain's accession to the Asian infrastructure investment bank in that year, which will play an exemplary role in other developed countries. "Italy's accession is of great significance not only to railway and land sea connectivity in the logistics system, but also to the introduction of EU standards, which will help the belt and road project develop to a higher standard." He said.

Similarly, Wang Yiwei believes that Greece's participation in China Central and Eastern Europe cooperation is also of great significance. It has effectively countered the remarks about China's "divide and rule" and "engage in ideology" in Europe. Moreover, the docking of Piraeus port and Hungary Sierra Leone railway will realize the development of China EU land sea express line, upgrade the sub regional cooperation in central and Eastern Europe to cross regional cooperation, and radiate to the Middle East and Africa It is conducive to the realization of real Eurasian land sea interconnection.

Wang Yi disclosed that during the current Summit Forum, all parties will sign more bilateral and multilateral cooperation agreements, and some developed countries and international financial institutions will also sign documents with China on third-party market cooperation. According to the 21st century economic report, it was learned from the Swiss Embassy in China on April 18 that China and Switzerland will sign a memorandum of understanding on the third-party market cooperation of the belt and road initiative during the Swiss federal president Yuli Maurer's visit to China.

French ambassador to China Li Xiang disclosed to the 21st century economic reporter on April 17 that French Foreign Minister rodrigan will attend this forum as the special envoy of French President Marco ó n. China and France have prepared 13 "high standard" projects on the third-party market cooperation of the belt and road initiative. He also stressed that President makron spoke highly of the opportunities brought about by the belt and road initiative.

This forum is expected to achieve a series of important results. According to Wang Yi, a joint communique will be issued at the round table summit to show the political consensus of leaders of all countries to jointly build the belt and road initiative. As the host, China will also summarize the concrete achievements reached by all parties during the forum, including a series of intergovernmental cooperation agreements and a large number of investment and financing practical cooperation projects carried out by enterprises and financial institutions of various countries. During the conference, business people from all over the world will sign a number of specific project agreements.

Six corridors, six roads, multinational and multi port cooperation pattern has basically taken shape

Wang Yi said at the briefing that in the past six years since the belt and road initiative was proposed, great achievements have been made and fruitful achievements have been made. It has become an international cooperation platform widely participated in today's world and a popular international public product. The six corridors, six roads, multinational and multi port cooperation pattern has basically taken shape.

In the past six years, major projects have been put into effect. According to Gao Feng, a spokesman for the Ministry of Commerce, a number of major infrastructure projects such as railways, highways and ports have been completed. For example, the opening of the China Malaysia friendship bridge in Maldives and the opening of the Addis Ababa Kyrgyzstan railway have made Gwadar Port fully operational; major projects in the fields of energy, resource cooperation and manufacturing have been smoothly promoted, and some of them have been completed and put into operation.

After being taken over by COSCO, Greece's Piraeus port has become a major port in the Mediterranean Sea, creating more than 8000 local jobs. Xu Lirong, chairman of COSCO Shipping, said on March 23 that by 2025, the project will increase Greece's fiscal revenue by 474.7 million euros, create 31000 jobs, and increase Greece's GDP by 0.8 percentage points. Greece's logistics output value is expected to increase from 400 million euro in 2015 to 2.5 billion euro in 2025.

In the past six years, trade has been expanding. According to the data of the total foreign trade volume along the belt and road in 2018, the annual growth rate of goods along the belt and road is 4.0 trillion, which is higher than that of China's "one belt and road" trade, accounting for more than 4.0 trillion US dollars in total foreign trade between China and the Ministry of Commerce in the same period of 2013.

Russian ambassador to China Denisov pointed out to the 21st century economic report and other media on April 19 that thanks to the launch of large-scale energy projects, Sino Russian trade broke through the $100 billion mark for the first time in 2018, making Russia one of China's top ten trade partners. He revealed that next, China and Russia will follow the Yamal LNG model to develop another gas field in the Arctic circle. In September 2018, the Russian government proposed a new goal of making Sino Russian trade reach 200 billion US dollars by 2024.

In the past six years, investment cooperation has continued to deepen. According to the Ministry of Commerce, from 2013 to 2018, Chinese enterprises' direct investment in countries along the belt and road exceeded 90 billion US dollars, with an average annual growth of 5.2%. In the countries along the belt and road, the newly signed contract value of foreign contracted projects exceeded US $600 billion, with an average annual growth of 11.9%. Up to now, Chinese enterprises and countries along the belt and road have jointly built 82 overseas economic and trade cooperation zones, with a total investment of more than 30 billion US dollars, bringing about nearly 300000 jobs in the host country.

Of course, in the past six years, the "belt and road" construction has not been smooth sailing, but fortunately, the storm has finally subsided. Take Malaysia's East Coast Railway Project as an example. Since Mahathir took office as prime minister in May 2018, the project has been at a standstill. However, the Malaysian Prime Minister's office recently said that the railway will continue after the line and cost adjustment. Mahathir has confirmed his attendance at the forum and is expected to continue discussing the project with China.