Liu Yunshan, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, delivers a speech during the opening ceremony of the Asian Political Parties' Special Conference on the Silk Road in Beijing, capital of China, Oct. 14, 2015. (Xinhua/Ding Haitao)
A senior official of the Communist Party of China (CPC) on Wednesday called on Asian political parties to jointly promote the Belt and Road initiative.
"Parties and politicians should make joint efforts, strengthen dialogue and cooperation to promote a common development of all countries. The CPC was ready to cooperate with all parties to make the Belt and Road initiative construction benefit all people," said Liu Yunshan, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee.
He added that the parties should play a positive role in promoting the countries' cooperation, enhancing mutual trust, expanding cultural and people-to-people exchanges, and strengthening social and economic development.
Liu made the remarks while addressing the Asian Political Parties' Special Conference on the Silk Road held in Beijing.
The Belt and Road initiative, including the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, was unveiled by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013 in an aim to promote the intercommunication and cooperation among the countries.
"The China-proposed initiative is not a solo, but a chorus of the countries along the route. China hopes to build up an open, inclusive, balanced and reciprocal cooperation framework during the construction of the initiative," Liu said.
According to him, China has taken practical actions to promote an early implementation and harvest of the initiative, including the establishment of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the 40 billion U.S. dollar Silk Road Fund.
In the first seven months of this year, the trade between China and countries along the Belt and Road totalled at more than 570 billion U.S. dollars, and direct investment by Chinese companies to the 48 countries along the Belt and Road totalled at 8.59 billion U.S. dollars, up nearly 30 percent on an annual basis.
China also signed 17 cooperation deals with governments or relevant departments of those countries, with several big projects under smooth operation.
"China was ready to formulate timetable and roadmap with countries along the Belt and Road to promote the integration of each country's development strategy, and jointly explore the potential of regional markets, so as to promote exchanges, integration and common development of all countries," Liu said.
He noted that the party-to-party relationship is an important part for the state-to-state relationship. Parties and politicians should make full use of the political parties' dialogue to find a way acceptable to all sides to solve problems left over by history and conflict of interest, so as to create a sound atmosphere for the development of state-to-state relationship.
He called on the parties to strengthen policy communication and promote exchanges between business circle, youth groups and media to create an environment favorable for the Belt and Road initiative implementation.
The conference, held by the International Department of the CPC Central Committee, attracted more than 60 political parties and groups from over 30 countries.
Foreign political leaders such as Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades, Cambodian Prime Minister and President of the Cambodian People's Party Hun Sen, President of the Democratic Party of Mongolia and Speaker of the State Great Khural of Mongolia Zandaakhuu Enkhbold and Speaker of the Parliament of Georgia Davit Usupashvili also voiced their support for the Belt and Road initiative.
On the sidelines of the conference, Liu also met with President of the National Assembly of Laos Pany Yathotou and former Indonesian President Megawati Soekarnoputri on Wednesday respectively.
In meeting with Pany, Liu said China was ready to work with Laos to keep high-level engagement, increase exchanges and experience sharing between the CPC and the Lao People's Revolutionary Party, combine the two countries' development strategy and promote cooperation in all areas.
Pany said the Belt and Road initiative tallied with Lao development prospect and was good for the country.
In meeting with Megawati, Liu spoke highly of the partnership between the two countries, and vowed to strengthen the bilateral cooperation and exchanges between the CPC and Indonesia's Democratic Party of Struggle.
Megawati said the party would continue a friendly policy towards China and contribute to the initiative implementation.
