Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte (left) and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping shake hands after a signing ceremony in Beijing on October 20, 2016. Duterte is back in China for the Belt and Road Forum, May 14, 2017.
AFP FILE
BEIJING — China on Sunday opened the Belt and Road Forum — China’s initiative to promote its vision of “win-win cooperation” by expanding links to Asia, Africa and Europe through massive infrastructure investment.
Chinese President Xi Jinping welcomed leaders and diplomats from 29 nations to the two-day summit at the China National Convention Center (CNCC) here.
Top global leaders including Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte and Russian President Vladimir Putin attended while the United States and North Korea sent their representatives.
The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) aims to revive and expand the ancient Silk Road trade routes.
“The ancient silk routes embody the spirit of peace and cooperation, openness and inclusiveness, mutual learning and mutual benefit,” Chinese President Xi Jinping said in his opening speech.
Xi said the initiative, which was launched in 2013, had resulted in enhanced infrastructure, trade, financial and policy connectivity.
He pledged an additional 100 billion yuan (US$14.50 billion) into the existing Silk Road Fund.
The BRI, which he described as the “project of the century,” is open to all countries.
But Xi said the BRI should foster a “win-win cooperation” without confrontation.
“We should foster a new type of international relations featuring win-win cooperation, and we should forge partnerships of dialogue with no confrontation and of friendship rather than alliance,” he said.
“We should build an open platform of cooperation and uphold and grow an open world economy,” he added.
He said the two-day forum would be an exchange of views on how to improve connectivity that would benefit all.
“In the coming days, I hope that by engaging in full exchange of views, we will contribute to pursuing the Belt and Road Initiative, a project of the century, so that it will benefit to people across the world,” he said.