China to Increase Number of Countries Participating in Belt and Road

China Ministry of Foreign Affairs SözcüSU Wang Wenbin stated that China will make joint efforts with all parties to make the Belt and Road, which is the “generation of development” and “the path to happiness”, more prosperous and wider, which benefits the whole world.

Wang Wenbin, at the daily press conference, stated that the memorandum of understanding signed between China and Turkmenistan on the coupling of the Belt and Road initiative with the Silk Road Revitalization strategy will further expand the mutually beneficial cooperation between the two countries in the fields of economy and trade, adding new power to the creation of the Sino-Turkmenistan destiny partnership. He noted that the Belt and Road cooperation between China and the five Central Asian countries will advance to a new stage.

Reminding that the Belt and Road joint construction was steadily accelerated last year and added strength to the recovery of the world economy, Wang said, “Last year, the number of train services operated between China and Europe increased by 9 percent compared to the previous year and reached 16 thousand; The volume of goods sent increased by 10 percent and reached 1 million 600 thousand TEU. The volume of goods sent by train through the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor, which aims to integrate the western region of China into the global economy, increased by 18,5 percent and reached 756 thousand TEUs. 9 million passengers were transported by the China-Laos railway. In the three months since Cambodia's first expressway, the highway between Phnom Penh and Sihanoukville, was put into service, more than 3 million vehicles have passed through it. Tests of the first high-speed railway in Southeast Asia, the Jakarta-Bandung High-Speed ​​Railway, have been successfully completed.

Wang pointed out that the facts proved that the Belt and Road matched the world's development needs and the expectations of the international community and showed great flexibility and vitality. “This year marks the 10th anniversary of Chinese President Xi Jinping launching the Belt and Road Initiative. "China will seek to make the Belt and Road more prosperous and wider, in accordance with the principles of joint consultation, construction and sharing with other parties," he said.