THE BELT AND ROAD FORUM POINTS CLEAR WAY FOR FUTURE COOPERATION

Chinese President Xi Jinping delivers a keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the B&R Forum, May 14, 2017. (Photo / xinhua)

Chinese President Xi Jinping, foreign delegation heads and guests walk out of the Yanqi Lake International Convention Center after the fi rst session of the Leaders' Roundtable Summit at the Forum, May 15, 2017.(Photo / xinhua)

The Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation (B&R Forum) was held in Beijing on May 14-15,2017.

In his address to the Forum, Chinese President Xi Jinping mentioned a series of high-profile achievements under the initiative such as cooperation agreements signed between China and over 40 countries and international organizations.

Xi also pledged more Chinese commitments such as an additional 100 billion yuan (14.5 billion U.S. dollars) to the Silk Road Fund, showing that the Belt and Road is not only a grand vision, but also down-to-earth action.

Xi said in his speech, “The pursuit of the Belt and Road Initiative is not meant to reinvent the wheel. Rather, it aims to complement the development strategies of countries involved by leveraging their comparative strengths.”

The Belt and Road is an open initiative that can be aligned to the existing world order and domestic development strategies of different countries.

Xi ensured to the world that China is “ready to share practices of development with other countries,”but has “no intention to interfere in other countries’ internal affairs.”China “will not resort to outdated geopolitical maneuvering,” but intends to achieve “a new model of win-win cooperation.”

At the forum, heads of state and government leaders from 30 countries and delegates from more than 130 countries and international organizations sit down together contributing wisdom to the building of a new model of cooperation. The forum clarified an assortment of projects that would be implemented within the framework of the initiative. The forum yielded a list of outcomes, which included 76 consensuses comprising more than 270 detailed results in five key areas, namely policy, infrastructure, trade, financial and people-to-people connectivity.