During the National Two Sessions in 2021, Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee, President of the State, and Chairman of the Central Military Commission, emphasized the need to deepen reform and opening up, optimize the business environment, and actively participate in the deliberation of the Inner Mongolia delegation at the Fourth Session of the Thirteenth National People's Congress. Build the Belt and Road Initiative and promote high-quality development with high-level opening up.

2021 marks the eighth anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative. Over the past year, the Ministry of Commerce has conscientiously implemented the decisions and arrangements of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, continuously deepened the Belt and Road economic and trade cooperation, and made new contributions to the high-quality development of the Belt and Road Initiative.

At the Third Belt and Road Construction Symposium held in November 2021, General Secretary Xi Jinping profoundly explained the new situation faced by the joint construction of the Belt and Road, emphasizing the need to completely, accurately and comprehensively implement the new development concept, with high standards and sustainable , with the goal of improving people's livelihood, consolidate the foundation of interconnection and cooperation, expand new space for international cooperation, strengthen the risk prevention and control network, strive to achieve a higher level of cooperation, higher investment efficiency, higher supply quality, and higher development resilience, and promote common development. The high-quality development of the Belt and Road Initiative has continued to achieve new results.

Brilliant Transcript

The Ministry of Commerce stated that in the face of a century of changes and the epidemic of the century, China has always adhered to the principle of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits, aiming at high standards, sustainability and people's livelihood, and working with relevant parties to promote the high-quality development of the Belt and Road Initiative. It has achieved common development, mutual benefit and win-win with the co-construction country.

Unimpeded trade has reached a new level. In 2021, the trade volume of goods between China and the countries along the route will reach 11.6 trillion yuan, a new high in eight years, with a year-on-year increase of 23.6%, accounting for 29.7% of China's total foreign trade. New forms of foreign trade such as cross-border e-commerce have developed rapidly, and a number of overseas warehouses have been built and put into operation. The first overseas smart logistics platform "Overseas Warehouse Service Online" that connects the supply and demand of overseas warehouses was officially launched. China-Europe freight trains operated 15,000 trains throughout the year, transporting 1.46 million TEUs, up 22% and 29% year-on-year respectively. The construction of the new land-sea corridor has been accelerated. China and Singapore signed a cooperation plan and jointly held the 2021 new land-sea corridor international cooperation forum.

New progress was made in investment cooperation. In 2021, China's direct investment in countries along the route will be 138.45 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 7.9%, accounting for 14.8% of the total foreign investment. Enterprises from countries along the route are also optimistic about China's development opportunities. For the first time, direct investment in China exceeded 10 billion US dollars, reaching 11.25 billion US dollars, equivalent to 74.28 billion yuan. The construction of the Belt and Road projects is progressing steadily, and Chinese enterprises have completed a turnover of 578.57 billion yuan in contracted projects in countries along the route, accounting for 57.9% of the total foreign contracted projects. A number of "small but beautiful" aid projects in poverty reduction, health, education, sports and other areas of people's livelihood have been effective, and projects such as aid to the African Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have been successfully implemented.

The mechanism platform has been newly upgraded. China has established 8 working groups on unimpeded trade and bilateral investment cooperation with relevant countries, signed a memorandum of cooperation on e-commerce with Senegal, and signed memorandums of cooperation with Hungary and Russia on investment in green development and digital economy. The cooperation mechanism has become increasingly perfect. Communication channels are more abundant. At the same time, China has successfully held exhibitions such as the China International Import Expo, the Canton Fair, the Service Trade Fair, the China-ASEAN Expo, and the China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo, promoting economic and trade cooperation with the co-constructed countries.

There are many bright spots in mutually beneficial cooperation

Qi Xin, director of the Belt and Road Economic and Trade Cooperation Institute of the Academy of Commerce of the Ministry of Commerce, said that in 2021, in the face of repeated global epidemics and changes in the international situation, the joint construction of high-quality development of the Belt and Road will take "hard connectivity" as the direction and "soft connectivity" as the Supported by "heart-connectedness" as a link, new achievements have been continuously achieved, with outstanding highlights and remarkable achievements.

Specifically, first, the construction of the "Green Silk Road" has been solidly promoted. In June 2021, China and 31 partners jointly launched the Belt and Road Green Development Partnership Initiative during the Belt and Road High-level Conference on International Cooperation in the Asia-Pacific Region. The road to harmonious development of the environment.

Second, the construction of the "Digital Silk Road" has been fruitful. By the end of 2021, China has established bilateral e-commerce cooperation mechanisms with 22 countries. China applied to join the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement DEPA and participated in the formulation of high-standard digital economic and trade rules. The 2Africa submarine cable project, which China Mobile participated in the construction of, has accelerated, and many overseas cloud computing centers such as Tencent and Alibaba have been put into operation to provide global cloud services and help jointly build the country's digital and intelligent transformation.

The third is to accelerate the construction of the "Healthy Silk Road". Against the background of repeated global epidemics, China's achievements in controlling domestic epidemics and promoting economic recovery have been recognized by the international community. China has jointly launched the Belt and Road Vaccine Partnership Initiative with 31 partners to provide vaccines to the international community to the best of its ability. and anti-epidemic materials. By the end of 2021, China has provided more than 2 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines to more than 120 countries and international organizations, making China the country that provides the most vaccines. Keywords: One Belt One Road, One Belt One Road News, One Belt One Road Project

Fourth, the construction of the "Innovative Silk Road" is booming. By the end of 2021, China has established scientific and technological cooperation with 84 co-constructed countries, supported 1,118 joint research projects, invested a total of 2.99 billion yuan, and started the construction of 53 joint laboratories in the fields of agriculture, new energy, and health.Editor/XuNing