UN official: Belt and Road is an 'important opportunity'

Nicholas Rosellini, United Nations Resident Coordinator in China [ZHANG YUNBI / CHINA DAILY]

The United Nations sees the Belt and Road Initiative as a "a very important opportunity" to collaborate with China and partner countries on sustainable development, Nicholas Rosellini, United Nations Resident Coordinator in China, said.

The veteran UN official explained why the UN is ready to collaborate on the initiative in a recent interview with China Daily.

"The Belt and Road is focused on trade, investment, building up industrialization, and commercial investment, but at the same time we see opportunities and also given the fact that it covers a population of around 4 billion people," he said.

The UN also wants to see how it can link in with issues around sustainability and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, Rosellini said in reference to the agenda that was adopted by 193 UN members in 2015.

Speaking on what the UN could contribute to building the Belt and Road, Rosellini mentioned the fact that the UN has a global network, and both the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and other UN agencies have a presence in all the countries involved in the Belt and Road.

"We have country officers, we have region officers, and we have technical specialists in these countries as well as, of course, in China," he said.

The UN thinks "this is a good combination" that can link our capacities with the Chinese objectives in terms of investment and trade and connectivity in countries participating in initiative, he added.

Areas discussed for cooperation with China include research, particularly policy research and using the comparative experiences of China and other countries, the official said.

"A lot of countries look to China for its successful development, it has been very successful in eliminating poverty but also ensuring services delivered in terms of health, education and water.

"So there is a success story in China that other countries are very interested in and want to learn from. And similarly, in other areas, China also wants to know what's happening in other countries, what works and what hasn't worked," he said.