BRI's key role hailed by diplomats

Fight pandemic

State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi will preside over the Asia-Pacific High-Level Conference on Belt and Road Cooperation via video link on Wednesday.

The meeting will focus on Xi's proposals at the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference, build a new consensus with Asia-Pacific countries on the joint fight against the COVID-19 pandemic and promote economic recovery in the region as well as high-quality development of the Belt and Road, Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said at a regular news conference on Tuesday.

Despite the pandemic, China's outbound direct investment in countries involved in the BRI expanded 13.8 percent year-on-year to $7.43 billion in the first five months of 2021, according to the Ministry of Commerce.

Data from the General Administration of Customs shows that from January to May, trade between China and BRI countries amounted to 4.36 trillion yuan ($674.3 billion), up 27.4 percent from the same period last year.

Elia G. Kaiyamo, the Namibian ambassador to China, said the BRI and the cooperative projects under the framework of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation have provided historic opportunities for China and Namibia to intensify collaboration for win-win results.

Infrastructure cooperation

Infrastructure connectivity is one of the pillars of Belt and Road cooperation, and "we are striving to realizing this target", Kaiyamo said, adding that the Chinese-built Walvis Bay container terminal commissioned in August 2019 has helped Namibia to connect with the rest of the world.

Albanian Ambassador to China Selim Belortaja said his country has been backing and supporting the BRI.

"We strongly believe that opening the multilateral dialogue always helps to exchange views among countries to find the best ways of cooperation. Even if we have differences in the concepts, platforms or policies, we can discuss through such a large platform like the Belt and Road Initiative for cooperation," Belortaja said.

Argentine Ambassador to China Sabino Vaca Narvaja told Xinhua News Agency earlier this month that his country has developed effective cooperation with China in fighting the pandemic, and it is actively preparing to participate in the BRI.