(BRF2023) Belt and Road int'l cooperation gets off ground, grows rapidly over past decade: Xi

BEIJING, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- Belt and Road international cooperation has gotten off the ground, grown rapidly and produced fruitful outcomes over the past 10 years, Chinese President Xi Jinping said Wednesday.

The cooperation has extended from the Eurasian continent to Africa and Latin America, and more than 150 countries and over 30 international organizations have signed Belt and Road cooperation documents, Xi said when delivering a keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in Beijing.

Three sessions of the forum have been held, and over 20 specialized multilateral cooperation platforms under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) have been established, Xi said.

Belt and Road cooperation has progressed from "sketching the outline" to "filling in the details," and blueprints have been turned into real projects, Xi said, noting that a large number of signature projects and "small yet smart" people-centered programs have been launched.

Xi highlighted the guiding principles for high-quality Belt and Road cooperation in his speech.

"Important guiding principles for high-quality Belt and Road cooperation have been laid down, which include the principle of 'planning together, building together, and benefiting together,' the philosophy of open, green and clean cooperation, and the goal of pursuing high-standard, people-centered and sustainable cooperation," he said.

Covering the land, the ocean, the sky and the Internet, the global network of connectivity built under the BRI has injected fresh vitality into the millennia-old Silk Road in the new era, Xi noted.

When COVID-19 struck, the Belt and Road became a life-saving road, Xi said.

China provided more than 10 billion masks and 2.3 billion doses of vaccines to other countries and jointly produced vaccines with over 20 countries, making a special contribution to BRI partners' efforts in fighting COVID-19. And China also received valuable support from more than 70 countries when it was hit hard by the pandemic, he said.

"The BRI represents humanity's joint pursuit of development for all," Xi said.

Belt and Road cooperation transcends differences between civilizations, cultures, social systems, and stages of development. It has opened up a new path for exchanges among countries, and established a new framework for international cooperation, Xi said.