For thousands of years, the light of civilization along the ancient Silk Road has always shone brightly. In 2013, General Secretary of the Jinping Xi proposed the Belt and Road Initiative, which evoked historical memory and gave the ancient Silk Road a new connotation of The Times. Over the past decade, participating countries and international organizations have increasingly recognized the concept of building a community with a shared future for mankind, and have become more deeply involved in jointly building the Belt and Road. It is of great significance to further promote the high-quality development of the Belt and Road by deeply summarizing the important experience and inspiration gained in the past decade of Belt and Road cooperation.

Answer the common issues facing the world today

The world is undergoing profound changes unseen in a century, and people are both hopeful and confused about the future. Whether we can find a way to transcend the narrow economic globalization of the West has become an important issue. General Secretary of the Jinping Xi pointed out: "At present, the change of the world, the change of The Times, and the change of history are unfolding in an unprecedented way, and human society has come to a critical juncture. Should we stick to cooperation and integration, or should we move toward division and confrontation? Should we work together to maintain peace and stability, or slide into the abyss of a "new Cold War"? Should we prosper through openness and inclusiveness, or sink into depression through bullying? Should we enhance mutual trust through exchanges and mutual learning, or should we allow pride and prejudice to cloud our conscience? It is up to us to decide which way the pendulum of history swings." The Belt and Road Initiative, the global development Initiative, the global security Initiative, and the global Civilization Initiative are and will continue to answer the questions of the world, history, and The Times.

Practice has proved that the Belt and Road cooperation is in line with the aspirations and expectations of the majority of countries and people in the world to share development opportunities and create a better homeland, as well as the law of human social and economic development. China-style modernization and high-quality Belt and Road cooperation will encourage more countries to follow the path suited to their national conditions and draw forward strength from the development of other countries. Over the past decade, the seeds of the Belt and Road Initiative have grown into towering trees and borne abundant fruits. In the midst of profound changes unseen in the world in a century, we have opened up a path of opportunity for all countries to achieve common prosperity.

Promote the building of effective platforms for connectivity

The history of human development is the history of mankind's joint efforts to explore connectivity and integration. Thanks to the joint efforts of co-contributing countries and over the past decade, the Belt and Road Initiative has helped build an effective platform for connectivity and injected new momentum into world economic growth. According to a World Bank research report, if all the transport infrastructure projects under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative are implemented, by 2030, it is expected to generate annual global benefits of 1.6 trillion US dollars, accounting for 1.3% of the world economy.

Over the past decade, high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, based on overall planning and adhering to the principle of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits, has taken "hard connectivity" in infrastructure as an important direction, "soft connectivity" in rules and standards as an important support, and "heart-to-heart connectivity" with people in co-building countries as an important foundation. A number of high-quality landmark projects to jointly build the "Belt and Road" have been launched, and China's overseas investment project contract labor cooperation and foreign aid projects cover all the founding of China.

From 2013 to 2022, the trade volume of goods between China and countries jointly building the Belt and Road doubled from US $1.04 trillion to US $2.07 trillion, with an average annual growth rate of 8 percent. In 2022, China's imports and exports to countries jointly building the "Belt and Road" will account for 32.9% of China's total foreign trade value. China and the Founding of the People's Republic of China have jointly built a large number of major land, sea and air connectivity projects, breaking through the bottlenecks that have long hindered the economic development of some countries, and playing an important role in enhancing connectivity and building an efficient and unimpeded global market. China has worked with other parties to improve the Belt and Road cooperation mechanism for green and low-carbon development. It has signed more than 50 cooperation documents on ecological and environmental protection with relevant countries and international organizations, and launched the Belt and Road Green Development Partnership Initiative with 31 co-contributing countries. Important progress and results have been achieved in cooperation on the Green Silk Road, the Digital Silk Road, the Health Silk Road, the Energy Silk Road and the Innovation Silk Road.

Promote the progress of civilization and the development of human society

Jinping Xi General Secretary pointed out: "Civilization is like water, moistening things silently. We should promote mutual respect and harmonious coexistence among civilizations, and let exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations become a bridge of friendship between peoples, a driving force for human progress, and a bond for world peace. We should seek wisdom and nourishment from different civilizations, provide spiritual support and comfort to people, and work together to solve the challenges facing mankind." The Belt and Road Initiative transcends estrangement through exchanges, conflict through mutual learning and superiority through coexistence. It embodies the greatest common denominator for the common development of all parties and carries forward the common values of peace, development, fairness, justice, democracy and freedom of all mankind. It has generated huge resonance energy.

With an open and inclusive mind, the Chinese civilization has constantly drawn on the achievements of fine civilizations from outside the region. In the long history, the Chinese civilization has written a Silk Road together with relevant countries, which meets the inherent requirements of building a community of shared interests, shared responsibilities and shared future. Against the backdrop of countercurrent economic globalization, the Belt and Road Initiative has become an important practical platform for building a community with a shared future for mankind, which will help all countries achieve common growth and prosperity through opening-up and cooperation. According to the World Bank, it is expected to help 7.6 million people out of extreme poverty and 32 million out of moderate poverty globally by 2030.

It will help build an open world economy

Jointly building the Belt and Road will not only accelerate the formation of a pattern of opening-up featuring inter-linkages between land and sea and mutual benefit between the east and the West, but also attract high-quality global resources to China's modernization drive. In the process of promoting the high-quality construction of the "Belt and Road", improving the global industrial chain and supply chain can not only enable China's industry to "go out" to promote the upgrading of domestic industrial structure, but also enable the countries that jointly build the "Belt and Road" to form a new industrial layout, and maintain the stability of the global industrial chain and supply chain.

The Belt and Road Initiative is a major measure for China to expand its opening up. In the context of intensifying competition among major countries and the need to strengthen the multilateral trading system, China has actively promoted the Belt and Road Initiative and accelerated the opening up of border areas, injecting new impetus into the development of the world economy. With the rapid development of multi-level general trade, processing trade, service trade, procurement trade, port trade and cross-border e-commerce, it has further promoted the rapid development of channel economy, port economy and hub economy, and formed an all-round opening up pattern focusing on jointly building the Belt and Road.

The Belt and Road Initiative has benefited countries, regions and peoples, and made a major contribution to building an open world economy. For example, most member states of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) have joined the Belt and Road cooperation, becoming important node countries of the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. The Belt and Road Initiative has deepened economic and trade cooperation among RCEP member states. In the course of mutual opening-up, China and ASEAN have further deepened the multilateral trade and investment mechanism, continuously released the dividends of economic and trade cooperation to neighboring countries and regions, and promoted the process of regional economic integration in the Asia-Pacific region.

In the 21st century, global scientific and technological innovation has entered a period of unprecedented intensive and active, and a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation is reshaping the global innovation landscape and reshaping the global economic structure. Most of the countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative are in the early and middle stages of industrialization, and the Belt and Road Initiative has provided new opportunities for these countries to better integrate into the global industrial chain and value chain. As goods, services, information, capital, technology and talents are shared, moved and regrouped among co-building countries, countries can make use of their comparative advantages, focus on scientific and technological research and application, research and development and transformation of high-tech products, and continue to drive development through innovation. The Belt and Road Initiative enables different countries, social strata and people to share the fruits of economic globalization in the development of an open world economy.

Make solid progress in high-quality Belt and Road cooperation

In the past ten years since the Belt and Road Initiative was put forward, from vision to action, from brushwork to meticulous painting, it is gaining more and more international influence and appeal. In 2017 and 2019, China held the first and second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, which brought together leaders, enterprises, experts and scholars from countries involved in Belt and Road cooperation, and made important achievements in Belt and Road cooperation. The third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation will be held in Beijing in October 2023.

The Belt and Road Initiative is an economic cooperation initiative, not a geopolitical or military alliance. It is an open and inclusive process, not a closed-door clique or a "China club". No ideological demarcation, no zero-sum game. No matter what political system, geographical environment, development stage or cultural background they are in, they can join the circle of friends of the Belt and Road Initiative to achieve win-win cooperation through consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits. Despite the increasingly complex international environment for jointly building the Belt and Road, we must maintain strategic focus, seize strategic opportunities, balance development and security, balance domestic and international cooperation and struggle, balance stock and increase, and balance overall and priorities, actively respond to challenges, seek advantages and avoid disadvantages, and forge ahead.

Ten years to set sail. The Belt and Road Initiative has created a path of win-win cooperation and common development for the whole world. China will work with the rest of the international community to draw lessons learned and draw blueprints for the sustainable development of the Belt and Road Initiative. We will pave the way for common development, draw a beautiful picture of green development, and write a new chapter in the Silk Road Era featuring mutual benefit among countries, mutual understanding among peoples, and mutual learning among civilizations.

Source: State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council