Belt, Road leading to shared benefits for all

Report says key initiative boosting countries, regions over past decade

China's trade and investment cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative over the past 10 years has made the global economic pie bigger, benefiting participating countries and regions, a new report showed on Wednesday.

The BRI has also been welcomed by the international community, both as a public good and as a cooperation platform, the report, unveiled at the sub-forum on trade at the third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in Beijing, showed.

BRI cooperation has upheld the principles of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits, fostered synergy among the partner economies' development strategies, and respected the interests and concerns of all, according to the report released by the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, an affiliate of the Ministry of Commerce.

Thanks to that, the BRI has fully tapped into the strengths of all participants and ensured that all parties share the fruits of development. It embraces the trend of economic globalization and strives to make globalization more open, inclusive, balanced and beneficial to all, the report said.

The report revealed that, in 2022, goods trade volume between China and its BRI partners reached nearly $2.9 trillion, up nearly 76 percent from a decade ago, with new trade models and formats like Silk Road e-commerce and market procurement emerging to add resilience to trade cooperation between China and other BRI economies.

As of 2022, China's investment stock in other BRI economies had amounted to $309.9 billion, or 2.7 times that in 2013. In 2022 alone, the BRI partner economies directly invested $21.11 billion in China.

From 2013 to 2022, the value of China's newly signed construction contracts with BRI partner economies reached $2 trillion, and the actual turnover of Chinese contractors reached $1.3 trillion.

Moreover, BRI partner economies have vigorously developed the digital economy through joint efforts, with a focus on empowering traditional infrastructure through new technologies such as big data and cloud computing, according to the report.

The report also concluded that China will continue to carry out high-quality BRI cooperation, promoting high-standard opening-up and expanding BRI cooperation into broader fields with more new models, despite facing intertwined risks and challenges such as weaker global economic prospects and rising geopolitical conflicts.

Li Hongbing, a professor at the School of Economics and Management of Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, said digital economy cooperation has become an important part of the joint development of the BRI, as reflected by the growing trade value of China's cross-border e-commerce and the increasing digital connectivity between China and its BRI partners.

Li made the remarks at a seminar on the joint development of the BRI, held by the CAITEC and China Commerce and Trade Press, on Friday.

More efforts should be made to further tap BRI cooperation on the digital economy, including building a collaborative and inclusive digital culture, coordinating digital development strategies, and jointly cultivating talent, he added.