New industries at forefront of BRI
By Li
Xuanmin
Firms looking beyond
infrastructure as way to upgrade
Hundreds
of agreements between Chinese and foreign firms have been signed during the CEO
Conference of the Second Belt and Road Forum (BRF) for International
Cooperation on April 24, the Global Times
learned, with deals or statements of intent being reached on cooperation, not
only in traditional sectors such as trade, but also newly emerging industries
such as cloud services and new energy.
The CEO
Conference, which took place at the China National Convention Center in
Beijing, is the first of its kind. Entrepreneurs from 88 different countries
and regions along the Belt and Road routes gathered for the forum, which is
aimed at bridging the interests of companies in different countries along the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and
facilitating pragmatic cooperation.
“As the
BRI upgrades, companies are exploring new models of cooperation to complement
each other and generate synergy… They not only wish to strengthen cooperation
in traditional trade and investment partnerships, but also expand collaboration
in the digital economy and artificial intelligence,” said Gao Yan, chairperson
of the China Council for the promotion of International Trade, at the opening
ceremony of the conference.
Huang
Juhui, vice president of a Brazilian agriculture company said that the company
has reached preliminary cooperation agreements with several Chinese peers in
the agricultural sector.
“Brazil
was [China’s] biggest foreign supplier of soybeans, chicken and beef last year,
while we also hope to tap the two countries’ potential in the agricultural
trade by promoting exports of more pig and chicken products to China,” Huang
said.
While
deals in trade and infrastructure are still at the forefront, officials and
representatives from business groups are hailing tech connectivity as a major
outcome of the event.
Chinese
server maker Inspur Group is just one of the companies to have signed a tech
agreement during the conference. The company inked a deal with National Company
Kazakhstan Temir Zholy, the national railway company of Kazakhstan, on Thursday,
April 25 to build a data center in the Central Asian country.
“The
Kazakhstan side hopes that partnering with a Chinese tech company will support
local computing ability, reduce costs and accelerate development of the digital
economy in the country,” Sun Pishu, CEO of Inspur Group, told the Global Times.
Sun said
that companies in other countries along the BRI, such as Thailand and Saudi
Arabia, have shown interest in learning from China’s experience in building a
digital society.
New
energy company Jinko Solar has received interest from local government and
research institutes in BRI countries and regions, including Malaysia and Abu
Dhabi, on cooperation in new energy and new materials, company spokesperson
Qian Jing told the Global Times. Qian
did not give specific details.
Liang
Haiming, dean of Hainan University’s Belt and Road Research Institute, said the
trends at the forum show that six years after it was first put forward, there
is renewed direction and impetus for the BRI.
Source:Global Times
Entrepreneurs hold business
negotiations at the Belt and Road CEO Conference during the 2nd BRF. (Photo by Meng Xianglin from People’s Daily)
New industries at forefront of BRI
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