This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative, and at the venue of the 2023 "Understanding China" International Conference (Guangzhou), the Belt and Road Initiative has become a hot topic for many guests. At the seminar on "Deepening Practical Cooperation and Building the Belt and Road with High Quality" held on December 2, more than 10 Chinese and foreign guests, including Peng Sen, President of the China Society for Economic Reform and former Deputy Director of the National Health Council, and Zafar Uddin Mahmud, Chairman of the Pakistan "Understanding China" Forum and former Pakistani Special Envoy of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, conducted in-depth exchanges on "High-quality Belt and Road Cooperation".
State-owned enterprises and private enterprises will make great achievements in the joint construction of the "Belt and Road".
Peng Sen pointed out that in the past decade, China's two-way investment with BRI countries has exceeded 270 billion US dollars. According to the World Bank, by 2030, the Belt and Road Initiative will bring 1$6 trillion in earnings, "I think that's a new thing for China." Through the joint construction of the Belt and Road Initiative, China's door to the outside world has been opened wider and wider, the inland areas have changed from 'rearguard' to 'vanguard', the coastal areas have opened up and developed to a higher level, and the Chinese market has become more closely connected with the world market. Penson said.
How should all parties act in the Belt and Road Initiative?Peng Sen said that the joint construction of the "Belt and Road" requires the active participation of different types of business entities, whether state-owned enterprises or private enterprises, can make a big difference in participating in the "Belt and Road" cooperation.
According to statistics, most of the flagship projects and landmark projects of the "Belt and Road" construction are built by or mainly by central enterprises. On the other hand, since 2013, private enterprises have become the main force of overseas investment. Peng Sen pointed out that at present, most of the overseas cooperation parks of the "Belt and Road" are built, managed and operated by private enterprises. China has built more than 80 national construction cooperation zones under the Belt and Road Initiative, settled in more than 4,000 enterprises, paid more than 2 billion US dollars in taxes and fees to the host country, and created nearly 300,000 local jobs.
The dividends of the Belt and Road Initiative are clear.
Zafar Uddin Mahmad is a "China expert" who speaks fluent Chinese and won applause from the guests. He pointed out that the cooperation between China and Pakistan is pragmatic and targeted. As Pakistan used to be very short of electricity, lack of airports, roads, railways and other transportation infrastructure, and its industrial development was relatively lagging behind, China and Pakistan have carried out targeted cooperation in these three areas.
According to the data, by the end of 2022, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor had brought a total of 25.4 billion US dollars of direct investment to Pakistan, creating a cumulative total of 2360,000 jobs, helping Pakistan add 510 kilometers of highways, 8,000 megawatts of electricity and 886 kilometers of the national core transmission grid. The dividends that the Belt and Road Initiative and the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) have brought to Pakistan are clear.
More than 2,000 years ago, the ancient Silk Road, which communicated with other civilizations through **, was the earliest interpretation of 'globalization';More than 600 years ago, Zheng He led the fleet to the Western Ocean seven times, and there was not a single ** on the ship, not a single soldier, just for friendly exchanges;The Great Wall of China means peace and protection. Through China's history, we can understand China's culture of peace and communication that has been at its core for thousands of years. Mushahid Hussein Said, chairman of the Pakistani Senate Defence Committee, believes that the core of the Belt and Road Initiative is also the same.
"If you look at the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway, if you look at the Mombasa-Nairobi railway, if you look at the Gwadar port in Pakistan, the results of these projects are obvious, and the benefits for the local people are self-evident," Mushahid said. ”
Text |Reporter Liu Zhuonan Fu Yitu |Reporter Liu Chang.
* |Yangcheng Evening News Yangcheng faction editor-in-charge |Proofread by Chen Wanyun |Peng Jiye.