A new platform for cross-region cooperation

“Belt and Road” (B&R) refers to the land-based “Silk Road Economic Belt” and the seafaring “21st Century Maritime Silk Road”. The routes with strong emphasis on connectivity and international co-operation cover countries across Asia, Europe and Africa. It features co-operation priorities in enhancing policy co-ordination, strengthening infrastructural facilities connectivity, facilitating unimpeded trade, deepening financial integration and building people-to-people bond among countries along the routes.

The B&R Initiative seeks to promote market integration and forge new ties among different economies, with the objective of driving deeper regional development by promoting cooperation in a variety of areas, expanding business opportunities and encouraging people-to-people exchanges among different regions.

To promote the implementation of the B&R Initiative, China issued in March 2015 a document entitled “Vision and Actions on Jointly Building Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road”, outlining the development ideas and blueprint of the B&R Initiative.