BEIJING, Nov. 13 (Xinhua) -- In the past five years, fruitful results have been yielded under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
Statistics showed that China has signed the cooperation contracts with more than 100 countries and international organizations by the end of July 2018 under the BRI. As of August 26, China launched 10,000 direct cargo trains to Europe. Trade value of import and export between China and countries along the Belt and Road has exceeded 5.5 trillion U.S. dollars over the past five years, and the direct investment in non-financial sector of these countries was over 80 billion U.S. dollars.
-- Accelerated infrastructure connectivity
In the past 5 years, the Belt and Road construction has been highlighted by the infrastructure construction and international cooperation, with a breakthrough made in transport connectivity. Likewise, impressive progress has been achieved in the proposed connectivity in such sectors as railways, highways, water transportation, civil aviation and postal services.
China-Europe international cargo trains have been skyrocketing since the launch in 2011. As of August 26, 2018, more than 10,000 cargo trains have shuttled directly between China and Europe.
Meanwhile, the expediting development of the facilities under the BRI also brings a lot of opportunities for construction and machinery companies. China Electric Power Equipment and Technology Co., Ltd. (CET), for instance, has established an international production capacity cooperation model for going global.
Guo Ricai, general manager of CET said that participation in the construction of the Belt and Road is the essential way for it to grow into a world-class company. The company will promote the international business, foster new engines for continual growth and make great contribution to the development of Belt and Road in accordance with the policy of market-oriented, permanent and localized operation.
-- Great results in regional economic and trade cooperation
In the first seven months of this year, Chinese enterprises increased its investment in 54 countries along the Belt and Road to 8.55 billion U.S. dollars, up 11.8 percent year on year.
As of July, China signed the contracts on B&R cooperation with more than 100 countries and international organizations, extending from the Eurasian continent, to Africa, Latin America and Caribbean Region and South Pacific. More than 80 overseas economic and trade cooperation zones have been built in cooperation with the countries along the routes, which offered 244,000 jobs for local people. Great Stone has become one of the models of bilateral cooperation. Construction of many Sino-overseas cooperation parks, such as China-Laos Cross-border Economic Cooperation Zone and China-Kazakhstan Horgos International Border Cooperation Center, are sped up.
At the same time, the cooperation under the BRI has also driven the growth in foreign investment and trade in many places in China. In the first half year, Jiangsu, Guangxi, Hunan and Shaanxi provinces all reported a great increase in foreign trade with countries along the Belt and Road, and Guangxi, in particular, had a record trade volume as high as 104.11 billion yuan.
Statistics show that Shaanxi province's newly-signed oversea contracted projects with countries along the routes accounted for 89.04 percent of the province's total contracted value overseas. The export of goods for oversea contracted projects was 2.21 billion yuan, up 2.9 times compared with the same period of the previous year.
The Henan province stands out in terms of the contracted projects for the countries along the Belt and Road, with the newly concluded contracts valued at 12.654 billion yuan, an increase of 562.7 percent year on year.
---Eyeing cooperation along the B&R
Chinese central and local governments are granting support measures to further propel the cooperation in economy, trade and investment in countries along the Belt and Road and tap the great potentials.
In 2018, the BRI won wider recognition from the international community. As of July, among 279 outcomes of the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, 265 have been put in place or gone into conventional operation, 14 are being promoted under the supervision, with a completion rate reaching 95 percent.
At the same time, all provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions in China are actively participating in the B&R cooperation. Gansu Province is speeding up the construction of the China-Singapore Southern Transport Corridor, which is expected to become a composite international trading and logistics corridor aligning the Belt and Road. Meanwhile, Zhejiang province is planning to build a modern logistics hub, an international cooperation center for technology and innovation, a new trade center, an emerging financial center and an international cultural exchange base by 2020, which are expected to become the major hubs along the Belt and Road.
According to the Implementation Plan released by the Department of Commerce of Yunnan Province, the total import and export value of the province will reach 50 billion U.S. dollars by 2020, with the average annual growth of more than 15 percent. The total import and export of services will reach 8.9 billion U.S. dollars, with the average annual growth rate exceeding 11 percent.
Bai Ming, deputy director of the International Market Research Institute of the Ministry of Commerce, said that the local governments should expand in-depth cooperation of industrial chain to improve its value. Bai also stressed that in the future cooperation, China's service and manufacturing sector should complement their advantages with the countries along B&R, and cooperate with them to achieve win-win results. (Edited by Ma Xin, maxin11@xinhua.org)
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