Chang said in an exclusive article sent to the IRNA that Beijing would seek to cooperate with many countries including Iran to complete its idea Belt and Road Initiative.
Following is the text of the article which has been written to mark the 10th anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative in China:
A decade of efforts has laid down a pathway toward common development
In 2013, President Xi Jinping proposed the "Belt and Road" initiative during his visit to Central Asia and Southeast Asian countries. In 2019, at the Opening Ceremony of the Second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, he clearly proposed to promote high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, which was also written in the report to the 20th CPC National Congress. This is China's solemn commitment to keep contributing to the development of the world.
Promoting the high-quality development of the BRI is a realistic need to adapt to the coordinated development of the global economy, society and environment. At present, momentous changes unseen in a century are accelerating across the world. The world economy is in the doldrums. Amid the rise of anti-globalization, the global industrial and supply chains are being artificially reshaped. With the increasing deficits in peace, development, security and governance, humanity is confronted with unprecedented challenges. Promoting the high-quality development of the BRI insists on ‘pulling hands’ rather than ‘loosening hands’, and ‘tearing down walls’ rather than ‘building walls’. We continue to promote policy coordination, facilities connectivity, unimpeded trade, financial integration, and people-to-people bond. This reflects the common aspiration of all countries, especially developing countries, to promote peace and development. It helps to promote all-round connectivity and enhance the sustainable development capacity of the BRI countries. China will continue to be guided by the principle of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits, pursuing open, green and clean cooperation. We will continue to pursue high-standard cooperation to improve people’s lives and promote sustainable development.
Promoting the high-quality development of the BRI is an inevitable requirement to adapt to the high-quality development of China's economy. China is entering into a new stage of development, taking new development approaches and fostering a new development paradigm to create more market opportunities, investment opportunities and growth opportunities for BRI partners. To achieve this goal, we have taken “hard connectivity” in infrastructure as an important direction, “soft connectivity” in rules and standards as an important support, and “heart connectivity” with the people of the partner countries as an important foundation, which have achieved substantial results, making the BRI a popular international public product and international cooperation platform.
China will continue to plan the new development paradigm in coordination with the BRI. Land transport routes will be safe and unimpeded, have unique strengths and supplement each other while maritime connectivity will be streamlined. A smooth connection between the industrial chain and supply chain will support the dual circulation of domestic and foreign markets. China will continue to steadily carry out cooperation in new areas such as health, green, digital and innovation, and cultivate new growth points for cooperation. China will continue to support developing countries in green and low-carbon energy development, promote information sharing and deepen cooperation in environment and climate governance. China will continue to deepen cooperation in the digital field, advance the Silk Road E-Commerce initiative and build a digital cooperation pattern. China will continue to implement the Science and Technology Innovation Action Plan, strengthen international cooperation on intellectual property protection, and create an open, fair, just and non-discriminatory environment for science and technology development.
Promoting the high-quality development of the BRI is an inevitable choice of BRI's long-term perspective. In policy coordination, the BRI emphasizes deepening political mutual trust, playing a leading and catalytic role in policy communication, and exploring the establishment of more cooperation mechanisms. In infrastructure connectivity, the BRI emphasizes deepening interconnection, improving the layout of the interconnection of land, sea, sky, and network, and deepening cooperation on traditional and new infrastructure projects. In unimpeded trade, the BRI emphasizes expanding the scale of trade with neighboring countries, encouraging the import of more high-quality goods, improving the level of trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, and promoting balanced and win-win development of trade, while continuing to expand tripartite or multi-market and international production capacity cooperation. In currency circulation, the BRI emphasizes attracting the participation of multilateral development institutions and financial institutions of developed countries and improving the diversified investment and financing system. In people-to-people bonds, the BRI emphasizes deepening humanities exchanges and forming a large pattern of diversified and interactive humanities exchanges.
Under the promotion of the BRI, a framework including six corridors, six means of communication, multiple countries, and multiple ports has basically taken shape. The soft connectivity of rules and standards that enable the deep integration of national economies has been continuously advanced. A large number of cooperation projects to promote economic development and improve people's livelihood in the BRI countries have blossomed, allowing more and more BRI countries to benefit from them and change the fate of themselves and their families by their own hands.
The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is a high-quality public good initiated by China, built by the parties involved, and shared by the world. The BRI delivers high-standard, sustainable and livelihood-enhancing outcomes, and is hence widely welcomed. To date, over three-quarters of countries around the world including Iran and more than 30 international organizations have joined this initiative. This year marks the tenth anniversary of the BRI. China will host the third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation this year. Taking this as an opportunity, we can jointly take stock of the achievements and draw up a blueprint to make this “belt of development” that benefits the world more prosperous and broaden this “road to happiness” that benefits humanity.
Iran has been an important transport hub and distribution center on the Silk Road since ancient times and remains a key partner of cooperation in the construction of BRI today. In 2016, President Xi Jinping made a successful visit to Iran. During the visit, both sides signed a memorandum of understanding on the “Belt and Road” cooperation. Under the framework of the BRI, bilateral cooperation has been steadily advancing and yielding fruitful results. In February this year, before his visit to China, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said in his signed article that China proposed the "Belt and Road" initiative to revive the ancient Silk Road, which closely linked the fate of the two peoples. During his visit to China, the two heads of state agreed on jointly building the "Belt and Road", promoting connectivity and expanding people-to-people and cultural exchanges.
The BRI is China’s idea, but its opportunities and outcomes are going to benefit the world. China would continue to work with other parties including Iran on high-quality Belt and Road cooperation to build a closer partnership for health cooperation, connectivity, green development, openness and inclusiveness. China would like to join hands with other countries to create a better future for mankind.
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