The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is one of the most significant projects in the 21st century. The project concept was announced during an official visit to Kazakhstan in September 2013 by Chinese president Xi Jinping.
One hundred forty countries and 29 international organizations are part of the BRI till January 2021. BRI signatory countries are across all continents, 40 from Sub-Saharan Africa, 34 from Europe & Central Asia, 25 from East Asia & the Pacific, 17 from the Middle East & North Africa, 18 from Latin America & the Caribbean, and six from South East Asia.
BRI infrastructure investments include roads, airports, ports, skyscrapers, railroads, dams, and tunnels. The Chinese government targets a completion date of 2049, coinciding with the centennial anniversary of the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) founding.
Table of Contents
Four features of BRI
Green Silk Road
BRI initiative implements the fracture project based on deepening cooperation in environmental protection, implementing green development, and intensifying ecological prevention.
Healthy Silk Road
Health is another issue addressed by BRI initiatives. Cooperation in medical care and health strengthens win-win collaboration in infectious diseases, disease prevention and control, medical assistance, and traditional medicine.
Intelligent Silk Road
Skillful vocational human resource development is another highlighted issue on BRI initiatives that deepen human resources cooperation; China has proposed a vocational skills cooperation alliance to train and produce professionals in various fields.
Peaceful Silk Road
Peace is another big agenda of BRI initiatives whose beliefs Deepen security cooperation and carry out the Asian security concept featuring common, comprehensive, cooperative, and sustainable and fosters a security governance model with Asian features.
Official Name
The Road and Road initiative is the Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road Development Strategy, announced as the One Belt One Road or the OBOR strategy.
Principles of BRI
The Belt and Road Initiative supports the purposes and principles of the UN Charter. It upholds the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence:
- Mutual respect’s sovereignty and territorial integrity
- Mutual non-aggression
- Mutual non-interference in each other’s internal affairs
- Equality and mutual benefit
- Peaceful coexistence
The Initiative is open to cooperation. It is available to all countries and international and regional organizations for engagement so that the concerted efforts will benefit more expansive areas.
It advocates tolerance among civilizations and countries and supports dialogues on each other’s strengths so that all countries can coexist peacefully for shared prosperity.
BRI is a market-based operation that follows market rules and international norms give plays a decisive role in the market in resource allocation.
Framework
BRI is a win-win cooperation that promotes joint development and prosperity. It focuses on peace and friendship by enhancing mutual understanding and trust, focusing on all-around strengthening exchanges.
BRI ran all continents of Asia, and Africa, Europe, connecting the vibrant East Asia economic circle at one end and developing the European economic ring with massive potential for economic development for sustainable development.
BRI, Inland, focused on jointly building a new Eurasian Land Bridge by developing China-Mongolia-Russia, China-Indochina Peninsula economic corridors, and China-Central Asia-West Asia through essential economic, industrial parks as cooperation platforms in every partner countries.
BRI, through at sea, will focus on jointly building smooth, secure, and efficient transport routes connecting major seaports along the Belt and Road.
The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar Economic Corridor are closely related to the Belt and Road Initiative, requiring closer cooperation and more significant progress.
Facilities connectivity
Connectivity is another priority area for implementing this great Initiative. The Initiative respect every country’s sovereignty and security concerns, although partner countries should improve the connectivity of their infrastructure construction plans and technical standard in their country systems.
BRI has gradually connected all sub-regions in Asia and between Asia, Europe, and Africa. At the same time, efforts should focus on promoting green and low-carbon infrastructure construction and operation management, considering the impact of climate change on every development project.
BRI projects focus on critical passageways and junctions, prioritize linking up unconnected road sections, remove transport bottlenecks, advance road safety facilities with IT-friendly traffic management facilities and equipment, and improve road network connectivity in partner countries.
There will be a unified coordination mechanism for whole-course transportation, reloading, increased connectivity of customs clearance, and multimodal transport among the partners.
BRI should push forward to build smooth land-water transportation channels, improve port infrastructure construction, increase sea routes and the number of voyages, advance port cooperation, and enhance information technology cooperation with partners.
The partner countries should promote cooperation in the connectivity of energy infrastructure, ensure the security of oil and gas pipelines, build cross-border power supply networks and transmission routes, and cooperate in regional power grid upgrading and transformation.
BRI should jointly advance cross-border optical cables and improve international communications connectivity formation around the Initiative.
They should build bilateral cross-border optical cable networks faster, plan transcontinental submarine visual cable projects, and improve spatial (satellite) information passageways to expand information exchanges and cooperation with partner countries.
Unimpeded trade
Investment and trade cooperation is a significant task in BRI. Partner countries strive to improve investment and trade facilitation and remove investment and trade barriers to create a sound business environment within the region and all partner countries.
BRI partner countries and regions are opening free trade areas to unleash the potential for expanded cooperation with partner countries.
Partner countries should enhance customs cooperation, such as information exchange and mutual assistance in law enforcement, to improve bilateral and multilateral cooperation in inspection and quarantine.
Governments should focus on certification and accreditation, standard measurement, and statistical information and work to ensure that the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement takes effect and implements it.
BRI partners should improve the customs clearance facilities of border ports, establish a “single window” in border ports, and improve customs clearance capability.
The partner countries should expand trading areas, improve trade structure, explore new growth areas of trade, and promote trade balance.
At the same time, partner countries should speed up investment facilitation, eliminate investment barriers, and push negotiations on bilateral investment protection agreements and double taxation avoidance agreements to protect investors’ lawful rights and interests to implement the BRI mission.
BRI partner countries should expand mutual investment in forestry, agriculture, agricultural machinery manufacturing, aquatic product processing, deep-sea fishing, bio pharmacy, seawater desalination, ocean engineering technology, and environmental protection industries in their countries.
BRI Partners should advance cooperation in hydropower, nuclear, wind, solar, and other clean, renewable energy sources.
Enhance cooperation in deep-processing technology, equipment, and engineering services in energy and resources of partner countries.
BRI focuses on new-generation information technology, biotechnology, new energy technology, new materials, and other emerging industries and establishes partner countries’ entrepreneurial and investment cooperation mechanisms.
China is exploring a new mode of investment cooperation, working together to build all forms of industrial parks, such as overseas economic and trade cooperation zones and cross-border economic cooperation zones, and promoting industrial cluster development with partner countries.
BRI promotes ecological progress in conducting investment and business, increasing cooperation in conserving the protecting biodiversity and eco-environment and tackling climate change as an environment-friendly global development effort.
Financial integration
BRI, Financial cooperation, and making more efforts to build a currency stability system, investment and financing system, and credit information system in Asia.
The AIIB (Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank) and New Development Bank conduct negotiations among related parties to establish Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) financing institutions and operate with partner countries.
Focusing practical cooperation of China-ASEAN Interbank Association and SCO Interbank Association and carrying out multilateral financial cooperation in the form of syndicated loans and bank credit, the countries’ governments along the Belt and Road.
The partner strengthens financial regulation cooperation, encourages the signing of MOUs on cooperation in bilateral financial regulation, and establishes an efficient regulation coordination mechanism in the partner countries.
People-to-people bond
BRI’s focus on the People-to-people bond provides public support for implementing the Initiative.
The spirit of friendly cooperation of the Silk Road promotes extensive cultural and academic exchanges, personnel exchanges and cooperation, media cooperation, youth and women exchanges, and volunteer services to win public support for deepening bilateral and multilateral cooperation in the project countries.
Every year, ten thousand government scholarships are provided to the countries along the Belt and Road.
The partner countries should organize culture years, arts festivals, film festivals, TV weeks, and book fairs; produce and translate fine films, radio, and TV programs; and jointly apply for and protect World Cultural Heritage sites.
References
- Embracing the new era and creating new brilliance-one of the series of reviews on thoroughly implementing the spirit of the 19th National Congress, 2017-10-29 at Xinhu news
- China.org.cn, March 16, 2013, about Xi Jinping
- Facts and Details Dotcom, XI JINPING’S EARLY LIFE, CHARACTER AND CAVE HOME YEARS by Jeffrey Hays, Last updated September 2016
- Dr. Xi Jinping Biography, President of China, family, and politics by Dhruba Prasad Ghimire, published on 22 April 2021 in the digital biography.
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