A hundred "Shenzhen-made" electric vehicles were exported from the ro-ro terminal at Dachan Bay Wharf. In the future, the wharf will leverage the east wind of the Belt and Road Initiative to continue leveraging regional advantages and serve economic development. Photo by Lu Li, Nanfang Daily
This year marks the 5th anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative. Over the past five years, the Belt and Road Initiative, with extensive consultation, joint contribution, and shared benefits at its core, has achieved inclusive development for participating economies. The Belt and Road Initiative originated in China, but its opportunities and outcomes belong to the world.
This is a special milestone: the fifth anniversary of China's proposal of the Belt and Road Initiative. Looking back, from the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor spanning thousands of miles to the China-Europe Railway Express connecting Asia, Africa, and Europe; from the completion and opening of the Mombasa-Nairobi Railway to the official opening of Gwadar Port; from the opening of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank to the fruitful results of the Silk Road Fund—the Belt and Road construction, with the strong support of over a hundred countries and international organizations, has truly become a path of resource sharing and common prosperity, providing new public goods for the world, unleashing the development potential of countries, achieving great economic integration, interconnected development, and shared outcomes, benefiting the people of countries along the routes, and leading the world out of the shadow of economic crisis toward a community with a shared future for mankind characterized by common development and prosperity.
Never before have countries been so closely connected as they are today. As an open and efficient international cooperation platform, the Belt and Road construction, with policy coordination, facilities connectivity, unimpeded trade, financial integration, and people-to-people bonds as its core content, conforms to the trend of the times, adapts to the laws of development, and aligns with the interests of all peoples. Data shows that over the past five years, more than 100 countries and international organizations have signed cooperation documents with China on jointly building the Belt and Road, and the Belt and Road Initiative and its core concepts have been incorporated into outcome documents of important international mechanisms such as the United Nations, the G20, APEC, and the SCO. At the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation held last May, 279 outcomes in five major categories were achieved. Facts eloquently prove that the Belt and Road Initiative proposed by China conforms to the trend of world peace and development and demonstrates strong international influence, appeal, and leadership. As international public opinion holds, the Belt and Road has become an important path and grand practice for China to promote the building of a community with a shared future for mankind, showing vigorous vitality and bright development prospects.
The principle of benefiting all and advancing with the times applies. In today's world, peace, development, cooperation, and mutual benefit have become the trend of the times, and the Belt and Road is a cooperation initiative focused on the common development and prosperity of all countries. Over the past five years, the Belt and Road Initiative has been transformed from concept into action and from vision into reality. The Belt and Road construction has been continuously elevated amid the tide of world peace and development, gaining the trust and support of more and more countries and international organizations. Key projects and demonstration projects have taken root, injecting impetus and adding inexhaustible momentum to the realization of common development and prosperity in the world, and giving the people of countries along the routes more and more tangible sense of gain. Data shows that China has already built more than 80 overseas economic and trade cooperation zones with countries along the routes, finding new space for Chinese enterprises' overseas investment and creating 240,000 local jobs. In the first half of this year, China's non-financial direct investment in countries along the routes reached 7.4 billion US dollars, and the import and export volume of goods trade with countries along the Belt and Road reached 605 billion US dollars, an increase of 18%. Global trade has taken on a new pattern, and innovative business models are being shared and learned from each other.
The tide is flat and the two banks are broad; the wind is right and a sail hangs high. Over the past five years, from infrastructure to economic and trade exchanges, from financial connectivity to cultural exchanges, cooperation in numerous fields has flourished. The Belt and Road has become a key move in building a benign interactive relationship between China and the world in the new era, opening a new chapter in China's integrated development with the world. Looking ahead, there is reason to believe that as long as all parties continue to carry forward the Silk Road spirit with peace and cooperation, openness and inclusiveness, mutual learning and mutual benefit at its core, seize the momentum and act accordingly, and persevere with a nail-driving spirit, the Belt and Road, which carries the dreams of development and prosperity of all countries, will surely lead to a better future and better benefit the people of the world as it is advanced step by step.