This year marks the tenth anniversary of General Secretary Xi Jinping’s proposal to jointly build the “Belt and Road” initiative.

Cong Liang, deputy director of the National Development and Reform Commission, recently said that under the strong leadership of the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core, the joint construction of the "Belt and Road" has adhered to the principle of consultation, joint construction and sharing, upholding the concept of openness, greenness and integrity, with high standards, sustainability, and benefiting people's livelihood as the goal, and with interconnection as the main line, and has achieved substantial and heavy historic achievements.

"Hard Unicom", "Soft Unicom" and "Heart Unicom"

Cong Liang sorted out the main achievements of jointly building the "Belt and Road":

The infrastructure "hard connectivity" is being made steadily. The interconnection structure of "six corridors, six roads, multiple countries and multiple ports" has been basically formed, and a number of landmark projects such as the China-Laos Railway, the Jakarta-Bandung High-speed Railway, the Hungary-Serbia Railway, and Piraeus Port have been successfully built and operated, and major channels such as the China-Europe Express, the Western Land-Sea Passenger Channel, and the Zhengzhou-Luxembourg "Air Silk Road", have been created, injecting new vitality into global connectivity.

The "Soft Unicom" has many highlights. Cooperation in the fields of rules, regulations, management, standards, etc. has steadily expanded. The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP) has fully come into effect on 15 signatories. China has signed 21 free trade agreements with 28 countries and regions, signed 107 standardization cooperation documents with 65 national standardization agencies and international and regional organizations, and signed a double taxation avoidance agreement with 112 countries and regions. As the flow of factors such as information, capital, technology, and talents becomes smoother, and the quality and efficiency of economic and trade cooperation continue to improve. From 2013 to 2022, the total import and export volume of my country and the countries jointly built was US$19.1 trillion.

"Heart Connection" with the people of the country and continue to deepen. Cooperation in various fields such as education, culture, sports, tourism, and archaeology has been carried out in depth. The "Silk Road" Chinese government scholarships, "Luban Workshop", "Guangming Tour", and other people's livelihood cooperation brands have been widely welcomed by the countries jointly built. The joint construction of the "Belt and Road" has formed a multi-interactive and cultural exchange pattern with a hundred flowers blooming, enhancing the sense of gain and happiness of the people in the joint construction of the country.

"Over the past ten years, the joint construction of the Belt and Road has transformed from concepts to action, vision to reality, and from 'freehand painting' to 'fine brushwork'." Cong Liang said that the joint construction of the Belt and Road has explored new ways to promote common development, provided a Chinese solution for economic globalization and the transformation of the global governance system, injected lasting impetus into the development of an open world economy, and built a major practical platform for building a community with a shared future for mankind, which has important practical significance and far-reaching historical significance for the win-win development of the world.

Factors that are accelerating in the high-quality joint construction of the "Belt and Road"

At present, the world is undergoing major changes unseen in a century, and how to correctly understand and grasp the new situation facing the joint construction of the "Belt and Road"?

Cong Liang analyzed that on the one hand, the concept of a community with a shared future for mankind is becoming increasingly popular in the hearts of the people, and seeking peace and development is still the common voice of all countries. my country is building a community of shared future with more and more friendly partners, creating a favorable environment for my country to enhance connectivity and deepen win-win cooperation with the countries jointly built. The economic and social development of developing countries and emerging market countries will be continuously developed, promote the development of the international order and global governance system in a more just and reasonable direction, and create a large pattern of peaceful development.

On the other hand, after the pandemic, countries around the world are eager to seek economic recovery and development and seek new growth momentum. With the accelerated evolution of the new round of scientific and technological revolution, global resource factors are accelerating reorganization, and new industries and new business forms are constantly emerging, giving my country the wings of technological development in joint innovation and development with the country jointly built. my country's industrial system is sound, the industrial chain and supply chain are highly complementary to the country's co-construction, and the potential for division of labor, cooperation and coordinated development is huge, providing broad space for my country to strengthen industrial cooperation with the country's co-construction.

"Overall, although the current international situation is complicated and the global economic recovery is hindered and long, the common aspiration of all countries to seek peace and development has not changed, the general direction of economic globalization has not changed, and favorable factors for high-quality joint construction of the Belt and Road Initiative are accelerating, and future development has a solid foundation and good support." Cong Liang said.

Provide strong support for building a new development pattern

General Secretary Xi Jinping stressed that we must comprehensively consider and plan the construction of a new development pattern and jointly build the "Belt and Road". This points out the direction for promoting high-quality joint construction of the "Belt and Road".

Cong Liang said that jointly building the "Belt and Road" is a global, large-scale and all-round international economic cooperation initiative, which is conducive to improving the level of opening up in various regions in China, expanding the areas of opening up to the outside world, and promoting institutional opening up. It has become a major measure to open up to the outside world at a high level and accelerate the construction of a new development pattern.

He said that the National Development and Reform Commission will, in accordance with the decisions and deployments of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, strive to promote the high-quality joint construction of the "Belt and Road". By strengthening open cooperation, it will be closer to the world, and integrate more deeply into the global economy, and provide strong support for the construction of a new development pattern.

First, accelerate the improvement of land channels with unique characteristics, complement each other, and smooth and safe, optimize the layout of maritime cooperation, and provide solid guarantees for smooth domestic and international dual circulation.

The second is to focus on building a mutually beneficial and win-win industrial chain and supply chain cooperation system, improve the level of trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, promote balanced and win-win development of trade, deepen international capacity cooperation and third-party market cooperation, and consolidate the foundation of domestic and international dual circulation.

The third is to deepen the integrated development of the joint construction of the "Belt and Road" with major regional strategies and regional coordinated development strategies, actively build major cooperation platforms, consolidate the pioneering position of opening up in the eastern coastal areas, improve the level of opening up in the central, western and northeastern regions, and inject lasting impetus into the smooth flow of domestic and international dual circulation.

(Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, October 12, Reporter Chen Weiwei)

"People's Daily" (Page 06, October 13, 2023)

(Editors: Yuan Bo, Zhao Xinyue)