DOHA: Attempting to play a much bigger regional role, China is pushing the idea of building ‘Silk Road Economic Belt’ and ‘21st Century Maritime Silk Road’. The belt and the Silk Road initiative aims to connect countries in Asia, Europe, and Africa for commerce and trade.
“The Silk Road Economic Belt focuses on bringing together China, Central Asia, Russia and Europe (the Baltic) linking China with the Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean Sea through Central Asia and West Asia and connecting China with Southeast Asia, South Asia and the Indian Ocean. The 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road is designed to go from China’s coast to Europe through the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean in one route, and from China’s coast through the South China Sea to the South Pacific in the other,” said Gao Youzhen (pictured), Chinese Ambassador to Qatar.
The ambassador said that the initiative to jointly build the Belt and Road is designed to uphold the global free trade regime and the open world economy in the spirit of open regional cooperation.
“It is aimed at promoting orderly and free flow of economic factors, highly efficient allocation of resources and deep integration of markets encouraging the countries along the Belt and Road to achieve economic policy coordination and carry out broader and more in-depth regional cooperation of higher standards and jointly creating an open, inclusive and balanced regional economic cooperation architecture that benefits all.”
He said that countries have evinced interest in this initiative. “When Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Central Asia and Southeast Asia in September and October of 2013, he raised the initiative of jointly building the Belt and Road, which have attracted close attention from all over the world,” he said.
He added that the belt and road initiative is a way for win-win cooperation that promotes common development and prosperity and a road towards peace and friendship by enhancing mutual understanding and trust, and strengthening all-round exchanges.
“We should expand the scope and scale of bilateral currency swap and settlement with other countries along the belt and road, open and develop the bond market in Asia, make joint efforts to establish the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and BRICS New Development Bank, conduct negotiation among related parties on establishing Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) financing institution, and set up and put into operation the Silk Road Fund as early as possible,” he said.
The Peninsula
