Speakers attending the sixth session of Vision China - a series of talks hosted by China Daily - said the Belt and Road Initiative, proposed by President Xi Jinping about six years ago, has been a driving force for global development and will offer more opportunities for the international community.

The latest session of Vision China, under the theme "Belt and Road, Shared Future", was held at Beijing Language and Culture University on Saturday. It coincided with the Second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, which was held from Thursday to Saturday.

The event aimed to tell the stories of the BRI from multiple perspectives and in a wider global context. It brought together international think tanks, policymakers, trade professionals and university students.

Weng Jieming, vice-chairman of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council, said in opening remarks that China's State-owned enterprises have actively participated in the BRI over the past six years, yielding impressive results in infrastructure connectivity.

"For further development, State-owned enterprises will continue to focus on better outcomes under the BRI by standing by the values of human progress and providing service with integrity during the construction of projects," Weng said. He also called for more university students, who formed the majority of the Vision China audience, to participate in BRI projects in their careers.

Zhao Jianguo, head of the International Communication Bureau of the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, said Xi's keynote speech at the Belt and Road forum showed China's determination and pragmatism in further deepening reform and opening-up in the new era.

Zhao shared three points on BRI cooperation: First, the BRI needs to build consensus while upholding the spirit of extensive consultation, joint contributions and shared benefits; second, it needs to involve think tanks from around the globe, which have already been a driving force for the initiative; third, it needs an injection of youthful will and spirit.

He added that Vision China has established a good platform for leading experts, scholars and opinion leaders in related fields to have an exchange of thoughts with young people. The previous five Vision China events generated positive feedback from many parties, Zhao said.

Zhou Shuchun, publisher and editor-in-chief of China Daily, said the latest Vision China talks were held to celebrate the Belt and Road forum.

"We trust that with the strengthening of effective cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative, China will provide new opportunities and serve as a powerful driving force for global development in the new era," he said. "And we trust that today's talks will help create consensus on the BRI as part of the efforts to build a global community with a shared future."

Speakers' views

Four speakers from China and abroad shared their opinions with about 1,000 attendees on high-quality development under the BRI. They also explored how and why the initiative is nudging global governance toward fairness, inclusivity, mutual benefits and multilateralism.

Zhao Baige, chairwoman of the advisory committee of the Belt and Road International Think Tank at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said the world is changing significantly amid the so-called Fourth Industrial Revolution.

The change is happening in parallel with the evolution of a new form of globalization, in which the BRI plays an important role in driving the process, she said.

Zhao said countries need new thoughts for development and for balanced development. "This is why the Belt and Road Initiative was proposed," she said.

"We need to pursue high-standard cooperation to improve people's lives and promote sustainable development," she added.

For further high-quality sustainable development of the BRI, Zhao made three suggestions: respecting laws and regulations, taking a people-centered approach and ensuring BRI projects' fiscal sustainability.

Ivona Ladjevac, head of the Center for the Belt and Road at the Institute of International Politics and Economics in Belgrade, said the idea of joining the BRI was well received in Serbia.

She said the BRI is not purely an economic initiative but is very comprehensive, covering cooperation in almost all sectors, such as policy dialogue, trade and investment, infrastructure construction and cultural and people-to-people exchanges.

"It is an open, inclusive platform for development rather than an exclusive arrangement," Ladjevac said.

"The BRI enables China to integrate deeply with the world economy, and is not intended to undermine or destabilize the current global economic order," she added.

Ladjevac was joined by speakers Hannah Ryder, CEO of Development Reimagined and former policy and partnerships head for the United Nations Development Programme in China, and by Andreas Pierotic, trade commissioner of Chilean embassy in China.

Ryder said the BRI can help solve many problems facing countries involved in the initiative, such as the lack of employment opportunities and growing gaps between the rich and poor.

"Many African countries, for example, lack foreign direct investment, and millions of people do not have jobs.

"If we have foreign investment that gives them jobs, that would be the first step. Then the governments can manage taxation in order to start redistribution," she said.

Ryder also spoke highly of the BRI's new move to encourage third-party market cooperation, or trilateral cooperation, a multilateral partnership model designed to "help countries take up better loans" that is "truly objective".

In addition, the trilateral cooperation proposal carries the prospect of driving a "sustainable industrialization and investment" program, she said, as it actively works with buyers, as well as factories, to shift global supply chains and attract investors that share this positive vision.

Pierotic said that Chile, a country far from China's ancient Silk Road, is embracing the BRI.

The BRI will become the "main pillar between China and the Latin America region", he said, adding that it will not only improve unimpeded trade but also boost financial, logistics and people-to-people connectivity.

"We are building tunnels, highways, airports and harbors with Chinese companies, and these can solve the logistics problem in Latin America, which will boost even more trade with China," he said.

Ni Haidong, Party chief of Beijing Language and Culture University, also attended the event, which ended with enthusiastic applause.

It was a timely platform for attendees to exchange ideas on the outcomes of the Second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, which concluded the same day. The talks were broadcast live on China Daily's various online platforms.

Vision China was established in January 2018. By inviting well-known political, business and academic speakers to tell China's story from a global perspective and discuss major global topics, it aims to become a broad platform to ensure China's voice is better heard in the new era, as well as to build a new channel for responding to global concerns on hot China-related issues through profound debate.