BEIJING, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- China made 14.53 billion U.S. dollars direct investment to 53 countries along the Belt and Road in 2016, taking up 8.5 percent of the country’s total outbound investment, said spokesman of the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) Sun Jiwen at a regular press conference of the ministry.
Sun said since China proposed the Belt and Road Initiative, the country have stick to the principle of achieving shared growth through discussion and collaboration and have stressed pragmatic cooperation and achieving mutual benefits while continuously deepening investment cooperation with countries along the route.
Chinese companies signed new contracts worth 126 billion dollars with 61 countries along the Belt and Road in 2016, accounting for 51.6 percent of the total overseas project contracts; Chinese companies also gained 75.97 billion dollars of revenue in countries along the route, 47.7 percent of the total overseas revenue.
Sun mentioned a series of key ongoing projects that are expected to help improve local infrastructure condition and economic development.
Sun responded to the doubts raised by some institutions that some ongoing projects may not be able to generate returns. He said some projects, especially infrastructure projects, demand large capital input, long construction period and slow cost recovery, but in the long-term, are all significant to improving regional infrastructure connectivity and well-being of peoples in related countries.
Sun said the MOC will continue to steadily push ahead construction along the Belt and Road and carried out more key projects.
(Edited by Yang Qi, kateqiyang@xinhua.org)
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