Interview: Belt and Road Initiative "responsive to the times" -- Eritrean official

This photo taken on Sept. 9, 2023 shows the construction site of the Magufuli Bridge project over Lake Victoria in Mwanza, Tanzania. (Photo by Herman Emmanuel/Xinhua)

Proposed in 2013, the Belt and Road Initiative aims to build trade and infrastructure networks on and beyond the ancient Silk Road routes.

ASMARA, Oct. 16 (Xinhua) -- The China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is a major global initiative that is "responsive to the times," a senior Eritrean government official has said.

"When it comes to the arrangements (BRI), you can envisage various projects and programs that are responsive to the times," Eritrean Minister of Information Yemane Gebremeskel told Xinhua in a recent interview.

With the growth of its relations with China, the Red Sea nation signed a Memorandum of Understanding with China in November 2021 to join the initiative.

This aerial photo taken on May 20, 2023 shows a ceremony for the temporary diversion of the Cuanza River at the site of the Chinese-built Caculo-Cabaca Hydropower Station in Cuanza Norte province, Angola. (China Gezhouba Group Company Limited/Handout via Xinhua)

Gebremeskel said cooperation under the initiative will further lift bilateral relations to new heights.

"The Belt and Road Initiative will only add to existing relationships," the information minister said. "This is the relationship that has been flourishing for the last three decades, and it will continue."   

Proposed in 2013, the initiative aims to build trade and infrastructure networks on and beyond the ancient Silk Road routes. It comprises the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road.

Gebremeskel highlighted the importance of cooperation in infrastructure development under the initiative.

Kelvin Josephat Kituruka (front), a native of Mwanza who joined the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) as a quality engineer, helps local villagers with access to drinking water in Misungwi of Mwanza Region, Tanzania, June 13, 2023. (Xinhua/Wang Guansen)

"Investments in infrastructure (and) support in infrastructure is good because it creates an enabling environment," he said.

"Africa does not need a lot of handouts. It needs support at a critical juncture, for a limited period of time. Africa has its own potential, its own contributions to global trade, to global investment, (and) to global growth," Gebremeskel said.

"We have to recognize that there is potential everywhere, and we can devise cooperation arrangements that can catalyze domestic growth; can tap the domestic potential, so there can be synergy (and) complementarity," he said.