ISLAMABAD, April 24(INP) An estimated dollar 50 billion worth contracts signed during the President’s Xi Jinping in Pakistan will be a source of prosperity in whole of the Asian region.
After decades of rapid growth, China is trying to further opening up and integrate into the global economy using its Belt and Road Initiative. The contracts signed in Pakistan is a part of such initiative, said Li Xiangyang, president of the National Institute of International Strategy under Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
In an interview, he said the huge investment in Pakistan, will lead to a great progress towards the development of road, railway network throughout the Asian region. The contracts signed in Pakistan are a small step of the initiative’s greater ambition to better link China to the world, he added.
The “Belt and Road” refers to the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime SilkRoad, mainly international trade and infrastructure projects, proposed by Xi when he visited Central Asia and Southeast Asia in September and October 2013
The initiative will focus on transport, energy and communication infrastructure, and cooperation on investment, trade, industrial division, financing, education, tourism and technology.
It shows China’s effort to adapt to a changing world and push forward globalization through a new round of comprehensive opening up, Li Xiangyang added.
Hans Paul Burkner, chairman of the Boston Consulting Group, said the initiative will be crucialin further developing globalization and will benefit China and other countries, especially the neighbouring country Pakistan.
Burkner believes the initiative will help China create big markets along the routes, which means more opportunities to spread
manufacturing and production around the region and forindividuals and companies to participate in the world economy.
“China is devoting itself to build a community of common destiny with Asian countries andeven rest of the world via platforms like the initiative, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bankand the Silk Road fund,” said Zhai Kun, a professor of international relations at Peking University.