Belt and Road Initiative ensures all parties gain real benefits: report

BEIJING - The Belt and Road Initiative ensures all parties gain real benefits, a report said Monday.

The Belt and Road Initiative takes into consideration the interests and concerns of partners of cooperation, seeks a convergence of interests with other countries, and expands common ground, according to the document on the Belt and Road Initiative's progress, contributions and prospects.

The report highlighted shared benefits, saying that the Belt and Road Initiative "is not a zero-sum game" and "is meant for mutual benefits and win-win and all-win outcomes."

The report, prepared by the office of the leading group for promoting the Belt and Road Initiative, was released ahead of the second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation to be held from April 25 to 27 in Beijing.

Under the win-win cooperation, China's development achievements are brought to other Belt and Road countries, the report said.

China propels economic growth in Belt and Road countries through its rising demand for imports and increasing outbound direct investment. Under the cooperation framework, it also supports developing countries such as those in Asia, Africa and Latin America to invest more in infrastructure.

According to the quantitative trade model of a World Bank study, the Belt and Road Initiative will increase the GDP of East Asian and Pacific developing countries by 2.6 percent to 3.9 percent on average.

The Belt and Road Initiative improves people's wellbeing, the report said. "China includes the provision of aid in poverty reduction, agriculture, education, health, environmental protection and other areas into the joint efforts to build the Belt and Road."

The report cited anti-poverty cooperation in Africa and East Asia, efforts to tackle severe droughts in the basin of the Mekong River, and technological aid in flood control to Thailand and Myanmar. Other efforts include training programs for 100 public health professionals, free sight rehabilitation surgery, and quality medical services.

China also facilitates the transfer of scientific and technological innovations to other Belt and Road countries, said the report.

Forty-six agreements on cooperation in science and technology have been signed between China and other Belt and Road countries, and the China-ASEAN and China-South Asia science and technology partnership programs have been launched.

China has built five regional platforms for technological transfer with ASEAN, South Asia, Arab States, Central Asia, and Central and Eastern Europe, and proposed and co-established the Alliance of International Science Organizations in the Belt and Road Region.

In 2018, China hosted 500 young scientists from Belt and Road countries to carry out research, and trained more than 1,200 science and management professionals.

The Belt and Road Initiative also promotes green development, the report said. "Upholding the Paris Agreement, China actively advocates and encourages the integration of green development into the joint efforts to build the Belt and Road."

China has signed a Memorandum of Understanding on building green Belt and Road with the United Nations Environment Program, and agreements on cooperation in ecological conservation with over 30 countries along the routes.

Since building green Belt and Road has become an important means to implement the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, more than 100 partners from relevant countries and regions have established the International Coalition for Green Development on the Belt and Road.