Thai transportation authorities and Chinese construction corporations signed a construction agreement for the first phase of the Thailand-China High Speed Rail on Monday, a new step forward for the long-awaited rail project that could link the two Asian countries.

The development of Gwadar Port seen by many as the flagship project of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has been praised by nations across in the Arabian Sea for its smooth and well-planned operationalization.

China has simplified its visa policy for Chinese citizens and foreigners applying to enter the Chinese mainland who have received China-produced COVID-19 vaccines, which insiders said showed the authorities' confidence in the efficacy and safety of the Chinese vaccines and will facilitate personnel exchanges.

As the pandemic situation in China was brought under control, the number of overseas business activities of Chinese firms has witnessed an increasing trend as companies from different sectors including Hisense, Midea and Sinopec have struck new deals with overseas partners.

The benefits of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) bringing to Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) is undeniable, experts from the "17+1" economic and trade cooperation mechanism said.

Driven by a resilient global demand for Chinese goods ranging from personal protective equipment (PPE) to home appliances, China-Europe freight trains, which have become a pillar for the trade for countries along the Belt and Road when other transports were disrupted by the COVID-19 outbreak, have seen record growth in the early two months of the year.

There are some voices in the media questioning whether Chinese lending to the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has dried up, citing heavy debts and that South Africa needs free trade deal not BRI.

During the Spring Festival week-long holiday, the operation of China-Europe freight train business remained smooth and unaffected as many trains linking China and countries along the Belt and Road in Europe, West Asia and Central Asia were busy transporting essential manufactured goods, according the China's Ministry of Commerce.

A recent video report by Bloomberg tried to address question of whether a massive new land port on China-Kazakhstan border will help prop up trade bracing some reported negative factors. And an article in the Diplomat magazine expresses concerns over trade efficiency citing a bottleneck on that border, has left thousands of wagons waiting against the backdrop of the pandemic. However, Gulnar Shaimergenova (GS), director of China Studies Center, Kazakhstan, recently shared her insights with Global Times (GT) about significance of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in the long run.

Hundreds of thousands of Chinese engineers and project managers working on the many overseas projects under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) are planning to spend this year's Chinese Lunar New Year at project sites around the globe, giving up what is a major holiday and opportunity for family reunion, to ensure project progress and alleviate burden of domestic epidemic control efforts at home.

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) will contribute to the global economic rebound by stabilizing supply chains among countries along the BRI route, while laying the foundation for further global cooperation, experts said ahead of opening of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, which will discuss a series of topics surrounding how to restore economic growth in 2021 after a coronavirus-triggered recession across the globe last year.

A record 12,400 China-Europe freight train trips were made in 2020, up 50 percent from the previous year, according to China's railway operator.

Following the uncertainties brought by the COVID-19 pandemic which has affected the entire global economy, speculation as to whether the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a key project under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), will continue according to schedule has become louder.

After chairing the port customs for China-Europe freight train in "the world supermarket" Yiwu in East China's Zhejiang Province, Zhao Hengchao said this year's demand for cross-border freight trains was unprecedented, with the total freight volume between China and Europe growing nearly 105 percent year-on-year, a reflection of close relation between China and the countries along the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

Chinese enterprises have been shouldering corporate social responsibilities in their host countries, progressing China's Belt and Road agenda. Meanwhile, with the international communities reaching a consensus toward achieving sustainable development goals, experts believe that now is the optimal time to foster green development linked to the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

The two-day Belt and Road Summit organized by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government started Monday online, focused on Belt and Road (B&R) opportunities and the global economic recovery after the COVID-19 pandemic.

The US and Taiwan's act will not have any substantial impact on the BRI, because their plan is not a substantial economic plan at all. But it aims to improve the so-called US-Taiwan official relations. This is the crux of the problem.