The third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation is underway in Beijing, with many world leaders gathered at the Great Hall of the People for Wednesday's opening ceremony.
President Xi Jinping delivered a keynote speech, saying China will work with all parties involved to usher Belt and Road (BRI) cooperation into a new stage of high-quality development, to achieve modernization for all countries.
Beijing is eager to seize the moment, welcoming world leaders and charting the course for the common good.
Xi shared his vision of cooperation between countries under the Belt and Road framework.
In his keynote speech he told delegates: "We have learned that humankind is a community with a shared future. China can only do well when the world is doing well. When China does well the world will get even better."
He added: "Through Belt and Road cooperation China is opening its door even wider to the world. In addition 80 billion yuan will be injected into the Silk Road fund. Together they will support BRI projects on the basis of market and business operation."
The Belt and Road initiative has not just focused on infrastructure and trade. Cooperation has expanded to new industries such as health care, low-carbon energy, the digital economy, and innovation.
According to Xi: "The modernization we are pursuing is not for China alone but for all developing countries through our joint efforts. Global modernization should be pursued to enhance peaceful development and mutually beneficial cooperation and bring prosperity to all."
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres told delegates: "Without infrastructure there can be no development." /CFP
The Chinese President first announced the initiative during official visits to Kazakhstan and Indonesia in 2013.
A decade of endeavor has left tangible outcomes. China has signed over 230 cooperation documents with more than 150 countries and 30 international organizations.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres told delegates: "Without infrastructure there can be no development and without development support many developing countries will be starved of the infrastructure they desperately need. Infrastructure is the foundation of everyday life for people and economies."
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Kazakhstan's President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev concurred. He said: "There is no exaggeration in saying that the BRI has injected new vitality into the ancient silk road, so the BRI put forward by China is a mega cooperation project in the 21st Century. In the next three years we plan to build 1300 kilometers of railway and will open the third cross-border railway along our border with China and establish new land ports."
A list of multilateral cooperation deliverables and a list of practical projects have been released at the summit.
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