Wang Xinping, Bai Yang, Zhang Penghui, People’s Daily
From Eurasia to Africa, America, and Oceania, joint construction of the Belt and Road has opened up new space for global economic growth, built new platforms for international trade and investment, and expanded practices for improving global economic governance.
Besides, cooperation under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has contributed to the improving of people’s livelihood and welfare around the world, while promoting coordinated efforts at opening-up among China’s coastal areas, inland, and border areas and integrated development of various regions in China.
In 2014, the first solid platform project of BRI, China-Kazakhstan logistics cooperation base, was inaugurated in Lianyungang city, east China’s Jiangsu province, equipping Kazakhstan, the largest landlocked country in the world, with a marine outfall to the Pacific Ocean, thus turning the country into the hub connecting Asia and Europe.
“It takes 13 hours to drive from Vientiane to Boten, while the same journey can be finished in less than 4 hours by train. We will never have to travel through those mountain roads that twist and turn a lot,” according to director of the Public Works and Transport Department of Luang Namtha Province of Laos, who regards China-Laos railway as a significant landmark project in Laos’ course of modernization.
The BRI is a godsend for poor countries like Laos, which helps these countries to realize modernization and keep up with the changing world, commented Vientiane Times.
Statistics indicated that Pakistan’s GDP has witnessed an average annual growth rate of 4.77 percent during the past 5 years since the construction of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) kicked off.
Meanwhile, foreign direct investment (FDI) in the country has expanded around 240 percent, with the 17 projects in the CPEC contributing $930 million to the tax revenue of Pakistan.
After joining the joint construction of the BRI, Greece has seen its largest port, Piraeus Port, which was once unable to function normally as even the bridge cranes were too rusty to lift things, catch the attention of the world and jump to the 36th place in the world in terms of container throughput.
Today, the sea lanes radiating from the Piraeus Port can reach 39 important ports of the Mediterranean countries.
With the implementation of and solid progress made by the cooperation projects under the framework of the BRI, the joint efforts to practice the BRI have brought tangible happiness and sense of gain to people of countries along the BRI route, making the Belt and Road a route to shared opportunities and common prosperity.
U.S. think tank Asia Society Policy Institute recently published a research report titled “Navigating the Belt and Road Initiative”. Daniel R. Russel, author of the report, wrote that “Infrastructure supports economic growth and can improve social well-being.”
The comprehensive implementation of the BRI can help 32 million people get rid of moderate poverty, where people’s living expenses are less than $3.2 per day, according to a new World Bank Group study on the BRI transportation corridors.
The study revealed that the full implementation of the BRI can increase volume of global trade by 6.2 percent, trade of economies along the BRI route by 9.7 percent, and global income by 2.9 percent.
In today’s world, 60 percent of the economic output comes from the coastal regions within 100 kilometers from the coastline, which causes some countries, especially the landlocked ones, to be gradually left out in the process of economic globalization. As these countries become the “deserts” of globalization, they hamper the development of economic globalization in a way.
Imbalance in development is the greatest imbalance confronting today’s world. As the World Bank pointed out, a novel feature of the BRI is that it can reach the places where traditional models of economic globalization are not willing or able to reach, and thus make the economic development of the world more balanced.
The BRI boosts connectivity among Asia, Africa, and Europe, and paves way for the economic growth of countries along the route and China’s own development, noted the website of Junge Welt, a German daily newspaper.
China has made great efforts to expand market access for foreign investment in broader areas, strengthen international cooperation on intellectual property protection, increase imports of goods and services, implement more effective international coordination on macro-economic policies, and put more focus on the implementation of opening-up policies.
At the moment when the world is faced with mounting unilateralism and protectionism, China endeavors to embrace development opportunities by opening its door wider to the rest of the world with the aim of pursuing mutually beneficial and win-win results and promoting the high-quality construction of the BRI by closer cooperation.
It is believed that with all the joint efforts to further promote the construction of the BRI, a highly anticipated glorious future featuring openness, inclusiveness, and win-win cooperation is approaching.
A cargo vessel docks at Greece’s Piraeus Port. (Photo by Zhang Penghui/People’s Daily)
Photo shows the construction site of the Reppie waste-to-energy facility in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, undertaken by a Chinese company. The facility is the first waste-to-energy facility in Africa and also a green and low-carbon demonstration power plant constructed by China National Electric Engineering Co., Ltd in countries along the BRI route. (Photo by Jing Yue/People’s Daily)
Technicians of Myanmar work in the master-control room of Myanmar Kyaukse Gas Fired Power Plant. The gas power plant is the largest one in the country constructed by a Chinese company. (Photo by Sun Guangyong/People’s Daily)
Aerial photo taken on August 30, 2019 shows Lianyungang Port in Lianyungang city, Jiangsu province. (Photo by Wang Jianmin/People’s Daily Online)
一带一路助推协同开放
人民日报记者 王新萍 白 阳 张朋辉
从亚欧大陆到非洲、美洲、大洋洲，共建“一带一路”为世界经济增长开辟了新空间，为国际贸易和投资搭建了新平台，为完善全球经济治理拓展了新实践，为增进各国民生福祉作出了新贡献，也助推中国沿海、内陆、沿边地区协同开放，东中西和南北方共同发展。
——2014年，“一带一路”首个实体平台项目——中哈物流合作基地落地连云港，让哈萨克斯坦这个世界上最大的内陆国从此拥有通向太平洋的出海口，并成为连接亚洲和欧洲的枢纽。
——“从万象到磨丁开车要13个小时，坐火车还不到4个小时。以后再也不用受弯弯曲曲的盘山公路折磨了。”老挝南塔省交通厅厅长素万蓬，将中老铁路视为“老挝现代化进程的重大标志性工程”。“对老挝这样较为贫困的国家来说，‘一带一路’倡议是实现现代化和赶上不断发展的全球变化的天赐良机。”老挝《万象时报》如是评论。
——统计数字显示，中巴经济走廊建设开展5年多来，巴基斯坦国内生产总值平均增速达4.77%，外国对巴直接投资增长了约240%。仅中巴经济走廊中的17个项目就为巴政府贡献税收9.3亿美元。
——从希腊最大港口比雷埃夫斯港出发，一条条辐射开去的航线能抵达地中海沿岸国家39个重要港口。参与“一带一路”建设后，一度“连集装箱码头桥吊都锈得无法正常工作”的比雷埃夫斯港，集装箱吞吐量跃升至全球第三十六位，令世界瞩目。
一个又一个合作项目落地生根，共建“一带一路”的伟大实践，让沿线国家民众收获实实在在的幸福感和获得感，成为共同的机遇之路、繁荣之路。
美国智库亚洲协会政策研究院日前发布题为《为“一带一路”倡议导航》的研究报告。报告撰写者美国前助理国务卿丹尼尔•拉塞尔认为，基础设施支持经济增长，并能增进社会福祉。
世界银行最新研究报告认为，“一带一路”倡议全面实施可使3200万人摆脱日均生活费低于3.2美元的中度贫困状态，使全球贸易增加6.2%，沿线经济体贸易增加9.7%，全球收入增加2.9%。
当今世界，经济产出的60%来自于距海岸线不超过100公里的沿海地区，这让一些国家尤其是内陆国家和地区在经济全球化过程中被边缘化，成为全球化的“洼地”，反过来也制约了经济全球化的进程。
发展不平衡是当今世界最大的不平衡。世界银行指出，“一带一路”倡议的新颖之处，正在于它可以深入到传统经济全球化模式不愿为之或力所不及的地方，使世界经济发展更平衡。
“‘一带一路’倡议推动亚非欧互联互通，为沿线经济增长和中国自身发展铺平道路。”德国《青年世界报》网站认为。
在更广领域扩大外资市场准入、更大力度加强知识产权保护国际合作、更大规模增加商品和服务进口、更加有效实施国际宏观经济政策协调、更加重视对外开放政策贯彻落实……在单边主义、保护主义抬头的当下，中国以更大开放拥抱发展机遇，以更好合作谋求互利共赢，推动高质量共建“一带一路”。一个开放包容、互利共赢的美好未来，渐行渐近，令人期待。
图为日前一艘货轮停靠在希腊比雷埃夫斯港内。 人民日报记者 张朋辉摄
中企承建的埃塞俄比亚莱比垃圾发电厂，这同时也是非洲的第一座垃圾发电厂，是中国电工在“一带一路”沿线国家建成的绿色、低碳示范式电厂。 人民日报记者 景 玥摄
皎喜电站是中企承建的缅甸最大燃气电站。图为缅甸技术人员在皎喜电站主控室工作。人民日报记者 孙广勇摄
2019年8月30日航拍的江苏省连云港港口。 王健民/人民图片
