At the beginning of January, Morocco signed an accord with China facilitating the joint implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), making it the first North African country to do so. More nations in Africa are closely examining the new BRI implementation plan, with a view to developing similar plans of their own. Morocco's geopolitical position, combined with China's rising global influence and economic success are injecting new energy into the global south cooperation framework.

As the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a flagship project under the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), has created new opportunities for economic growth and stability via a number of projects that are in full swing across the South Asian country, many third-country investors are also showing interest in the project.

Conceived in 2013, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) enters its ninth year in 2022. In an exclusive interview, The Global Times' reporter Chu Daye spoke with Pakistan Ambassador to China Moin ul Haque, recapping the development of the CPEC over recent years and delving into the latest progress regarding third-party cooperation and a plan for phase-two development of the CPEC.

In an exclusive interview, The Global Times' Li Xuanmin talked with Wang Weidong, minister and chief of the Economic and Commercial Department at the Chinese Embassy in Germany, on issues ranging from political and economic cooperation to the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) cooperation.

As the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP) will take effect at the end of this week, as agreed upon, the business community is awaiting the prospect and potential of the landmark regional trade pact, which is widely believed to greatly boost economic development in the region, and foster trade between China and the ASEAN, China's largest trading partner.

China and Cuba have signed a cooperation plan to promote construction of the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), injecting momentum for further collaboration by leveraging the complementary advantages of both parties and for cooperation between China and Latin America.

Traders and industry representatives said China-Europe freight train services will experience some manageable disruptions given its booming demand and mature service and facilities, in response to recent speculation about the possible abolition of government subsidies for cross-border cargo trains next year.

The Sri Lankan Ambassador to China, Palitha Kohona, brewed local black tea during a livestreaming session over the weekend, and before the fragrance of the tea had spread, nearly 200 bags of tea had been sold. During the live broadcast, a variety of Sri Lankan biscuits, Ceylon black tea and fruit tea on display were snapped up within seconds.

Chinese companies have signed deals to build 1,000 schools in Iraq, a long-stalled construction project, as part of moves to help reconstruct the war-torn Mideast country, local sources confirmed with the Global Times, after the US announced it would formally end its combat mission in Iraq.

Belarus is ready to increase exports to China, boosted by the development of the country's agricultural sector, offering an alternative to Lithuanian products that were previously supplied to China, Belarusian Ambassador to China, Yuri Senko told the Global Times, noting the country will support China in the international arena on all other issues including Taiwan question.

Myanmar has accepted the Chinese yuan as an official settlement currency for border trade with China, in a move that aims to address its shortage of US dollars and other foreign currencies, as the Southeast Asian country faces economic challenges amid political instability, sources close to the matter told the Global Times on Wednesday.

A gas chemical project in Amur, Russia, which attracted investment from a Chinese state-owned enterprise, is progressing well despite the cold winter, and the project represents enhanced energy cooperation between China and Russia.

With the official opening of China-Laos Railway, a landmark, high quality project under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), Chinese tech firms are tapping into digital cooperation opportunities between the two countries made possible by the mega infrastructure achievement that are increasing the Southeast Asian country's ability to attract investment, create new jobs and accelerate economic growth.

While China and Africa are stepping up their cooperation in traditional areas like infrastructure and agriculture, there are also new opportunities to invest in emerging sectors such as the digital and green economy, climate change and cooperation focusing on economic recovery and the fight against COVID-19.

Being in the crosshairs of Western anti-China forces, Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region held a development forum on Monday, with government officials, business leaders and academic researchers coming together, discussing the region's development and its active participation in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

At a Pakistani booth at the fourth China International Import Expo (CIIE), Habib-ur-Rehman from Pakistan was busy attaching "sold" tags onto some pink lamps on one of the booth's shelves. These lamps, made from salt mines from Pakistan, will soon hold a place in the homes of the Chinese families who purchased them.

At the COP15 in Kunming, Southwest China's Yunnan Province, as the host country, China exemplified its commitment to environmental conservation, while pointing out the direction for the future global biodiversity governance, especially among countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

In an age when there are more voices than actions when it comes to the implementation of the global commitment to tackle the climate change, especially from developed economies, the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has become the significant pillar leading the trend of a "green revolution" and has achieved historic progress for sustainable growth, analysts said.

In the wake of global disruptions caused by the coronavirus, the unique role of China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in combating the virus and promoting economic recovery for countries along the route has been prominent and evidential, delivering shining results that smash some western slights against the initiative.

The Global Gateway scheme, which some observers believe aims to compete with the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), is likely inspired by the success of the BRI and will serve to fully demonstrate the effectiveness of Chinese-initiated global infrastructure program, Chinese analysts said on Thursday.

Reports by The Guardian and some other media outlets about protests against the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in Gwadar, Pakistan, are untrue, and behind the fake news are some foreign media organizations' deliberate smears of China-Pakistan cooperation, an investigation by the Global Times has found.

More natural gas import contracts have been signed or are likely to be signed over coming months between China and countries throughout the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), as gas - one of the cleanest fossil fuels - acts as a bridge from using fossil energy to clean energy to reach carbon neutrality.

The US' crackdown on China's technology sector will not dampen China's cooperation on science and technology innovation with countries joining the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

China's exports to countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative (B&R) have surged by 25.3 percent on a yearly basis in the first seven months this year, as Chinese experts praised trade with the B&R Initiative regions as a "stabilizer" of China's trade exchanges despite external challenges including the coronavirus.

The operations of Chinese enterprises in Pakistan remain normal with both sides strengthening protection for Chinese nationals, a source close to the matter who asked to remain anonymous told the Global Times at a forum in Beijing on Thursday, adding that the Pakistani military has been providing protection for local Chinese enterprises including his company, and the Chinese embassy in Pakistan has warned Chinese nationals not to go out unless necessary, according to the source.

Goods bound for destinations along the Belt and Road Initiative from Ningbo-Zhoushan Port in east China's Zhejiang Province set a record high in the first half of 2021, according to statistics from Zhejiang Port and Navigation Management Center.
 


The G7's newly-hatched "Build Back Better World" (B3W) plan aims to help poor countries build up infrastructure and counter China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

With eyes fixated on China, the just concluded G7 summit in the UK announced an infrastructure plan, aiming to rival the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) adopted and implemented by China.

As projects under the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) proceed as scheduled despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, they are becoming a driving force for economic and trade cooperation between China and Central and Eastern European countries (CEEC), industry experts and analysts said on Sunday.

The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) links Kashi, Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region with Gwadar Port on the southwestern coast of Pakistan, with a total length of 3,000 kilometers between them.

Since being officially launched in 2015, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), the Belt and Road Initiative's (BRI) flagship project, has begun to bear fruit. As the construction of the CPEC project has come into the new stage of promoting industry and industrial park cooperation, Pakistan is facing new opportunities to fast-track the development of its industries which can help it compete globally.

In a recent story posted in early April, Hindustantimes online said that signs of unease emerging between China and Pakistan over the future of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), citing a report published in Modern Diplomacy. However, experts based in Pakistan told the Global Times a different version of the story.

Chinese photovoltaic companies are ramping up efforts to embrace the low-carbon development trend in countries along the Belt and Road.

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.