BEIJING: Chinese Vice Premier Han Zheng has called for the Belt and Road development to make solid progress and benefit the world. Han, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and head of the leading group on advancing Belt and Road development, made the remarks at a meeting of the group. He said efforts should be made to “focus on building a community with a shared future for humanity; push for thorough, solid, steady and enduring progress in Belt and Road development; and better benefit the peoples of all countries.” “The new environment and tasks of Belt and Road development, which has entered a new phase of comprehensive implementation, should be well understood,” said the vice premier. He called for high-quality and high-level development of the Belt and Road, saying better connectivity of infrastructure, policies, regulations and standards was needed, and trade, investment and financial cooperation should be enhanced, while people-to-people exchanges should be strengthened. Cooperation in areas including energy conservation and environmental protection should be stepped up to develop a “green silk road,” Han said. He also called for enhanced security risk evaluation as well as bilateral and multilateral security cooperation for the Belt and Road development. Published in Daily Times, May 26th 2018.