Belt and Road Initiative has brought all-round benefits to world
By
Johnny Falcon (Peru)
Past
experience over the five plus years since the proposal of the Belt and Road Initiative
(BRI) has fully demonstrated that the BRI has revitalized the ancient Silk
Road, enhanced connectivity and people-to-people exchanges around the world,
and extensively benefited the countries involved in the initiative.
The
construction of the BRI has intensified the links across the Eurasian
continent, boosted the land-sea connection and free trade among East Asia,
Central Asia, and Europe, and made China an important cooperation partner of
many developing countries.
The
Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and the Silk Road Fund initiated by
the country have bolstered win-win cooperation among en-route countries and
played important roles in facilitating the construction of the BRI.
China-Latin
America cooperation has been beefed up in recent years. China has signed free
trade agreements with a number of Latin American countries including Chile,
Peru, and Costa Rica, enabling the Latin American products to enter Chinese
market easier.
China is
now the largest foreign investor of Bolivia, Ecuador, and Venezuela, and the
biggest trading partner of Brazil, Chile, Peru, and Uruguay.
China’s
growing consumption demands have resulted in rising imports of agricultural
products from the Latin American region
year after year.
In 2018,
the Latin American region had witnessed an increase of 24.2 percent in its
exports to China, making China a key engine propelling export growth of the
region.
Though living
at another side of the world, Latin American people bear enormous enthusiasm
for the Chinese language and culture.
In
Medellin, the second largest city of Colombia, two colleges filed applications
simultaneously for establishment of Confucius Institute, while in Chile, the
Santo Tomas University offered classes in 18 cities nationwide after setting
up Confucius Institute.
So far,
China has established 40 Confucius Institutes and multiple Confucius classrooms
in 21 Latin American countries, offering Chinese language and culture education
to more than 100,000 students in total.
Various
contests, exhibitions, tours of arts groups, and other exchange activities held
by Confucius Institutes have helped people in Latin America get better
knowledge of the Chinese culture.
Over the
past few years, the China-Peru cooperation on BRI collaboration has served as a
model for cooperation in Latin American region.
China is
now Peru’s largest source of imports, biggest export destination, and largest
trading partner. The two countries have sealed a number of cooperation
documents such as Peru-China Free Trade Agreement and joint action
plan for cooperation in 2016-2021, which have further reinforced their
long-existing friendly cooperation.
As a
major destination of Peru’s exports in the Asian market, China has been
witnessing continuously increasing agricultural imports like avocados, mango,
and grapes from Peru.
The
investments in various fields by Chinese enterprises in Peru under the
framework of BRI have been helpful in advancing infrastructure construction,
boosting Peru’s connectivity with the rest of the world, increasing tax
revenue, creating jobs, and accelerating economic growth.
By the
end of 2018, the Peruvian subsidiary of China’s steel company Shougang Group
had paid Peruvian government an accumulative amount of $1.52 billion tax,
purchased a total of $1.43 billion worth of local goods, and created about
5,000 jobs for local people.
I’ve
felt that the BRI has brought all-round and multi-layered benefits to the
world.
(Johnny
Falcon is professor at Economic Research Center with ESAN University in Peru.
The article is compiled by Chen Xiaowei, reporter of People’s Daily based on an
interview with Falcon.)
(Source:
People’s Daily)
Belt and Road Initiative has brought all-round benefits to world
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