Chinese President Xi Jinping on Saturday urged dozens of world leaders to reject protectionism, and invited more countries to participate in his global infrastructure project after seeking to ease concerns surrounding the programme.
Addressing 37 leaders from Europe, Africa, Asia and Latin America, Xi made a new pitch for his cherished Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) as he kicked off the last day of a three-day forum.
“We need to build an open world economy and reject protectionism,” Xi told leaders including Russian President Vladimir Putin, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte and Pakistan’s Imran Khan seated around a large round table at the idyllic Yanqi Lake retreat at the edge of Beijing.
“We need to encourage the full participation of more countries and companies, thus expanding the pie of common interests,” Xi said. Xi Jinping said $64 billion in deals were signed at the summit. “This year’s forum sends a clear message: more and more friends and partners will join in the Belt and Road co-operation,” he said.
A document released after the meeting showed that Equatorial Guinea, Liberia, Luxembourg, Jamaica, Peru, Italy, Barbados, Cyprus and Yemen were the latest countries to join the club.
Xi said enterprises will be the main driver in all Belt and Road projects and market principles will apply, with governments providing a supporting role. “This will make the projects more sustainable and create a fair and non-discriminatory environment for foreign investors,” he said, adding that business leaders meeting at a side event signed some $64 billion worth of deals during the forum, without providing details.
Xi called for joint efforts of all parties to promote high-quality development of the Belt and Road. Under the principle of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits, participants of the Belt and Road Initiative have provided new impetus for global economic growth and opened new space for global development since the first BRF in 2017, he said, and called on all parties to jointly push forward intensive and meticulous implementation, advance the joint building of the Belt and Road, and deliver greater benefits to the people of all countries. He highlighted joint work of all parties to identify cooperation priorities and focus on enhancing all-round connectivity. He also stressed joint efforts to strengthen cooperation mechanisms and forge partnership on connectivity, calling for encouraging the full participation of more countries and businesses in expanding common interests.
Leaders from 40 countries and international organisations attended the roundtable meeting and had an extensive and in-depth exchange of views. They reached important consensus on a wide range of topics, including promoting connectivity, strengthening policy alignment, forging closer partnerships, promoting green and sustainable development, and implementing the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
During the discussion, foreign participants said advancing the joint building of the Belt and Road is one of the greatest initiatives for economic cooperation in today’s world, and expressed willingness to align their respective countries’ development strategies with the initiative.
A joint communique was adopted at the closing session of the roundtable, and a list of deliverables of the forum was also published after the meeting.