BRI promoting multi-tier cooperation, interconnection

The Belt and Road Initiative promotes multi-dimensional cooperation and facilitates connectivity among countries involved in the initiative, said Xu Ying, co-founder of Super Bridge Council, at "The Belt and Road: Investing in China and Converging Thought" themed event .

Xu said this year marks the first decade of the initiative. During this period, the initiative has promoted the understanding of financial infrastructure, technology, education, cultural cooperation, and comprehensive collaboration among the countries. Countries have come to realize that despite facing various challenges, the world is interdependent. Without cooperation with others, each country will be unable to achieve a bright future on its own.

Xu said the cooperation between the countries can span a wide range of areas. First, affordable, accessible, and applicable technologies can be introduced. They can be customized based on local conditions. Second, talent and education can be introduced, enabling local residents to not only become industrial workers but also acquire the ability for continuous learning, thereby earning longer-term income in the labor market. Last, global capital can be brought in, which often comes with an innovative mindset, visionary ideas, and forward thinking. This is particularly important for developing countries, as they need a global perspective, placing themselves on the global stage and considering their development under global conditions. This type of development is more sustainable. Moreover, many developing countries involved in the initiative, due to their traditionally lagging tangible infrastructure, are eager to introduce digital infrastructure to address the related weaknesses linked to material infrastructure.

Xu said in Nigeria there is a strong desire to develop remote digital healthcare solutions to provide medical services to far-flung areas that lack roads, ports, and airports. Therefore, digitalization has actually become a major development focus for all countries involved in the initiative.

Xu said Chinese enterprises have not only established and developed global capabilities in digital infrastructure over the past 30 years but also built and deployed industrial and consumer application capabilities on top of the infrastructure. In these Belt and Road countries, Chinese enterprises have significant opportunities to provide them with technology, education, services, and technology transfers, enabling these countries to establish economic connections between individuals and achieve micro-level connectivity.

Regarding the future development of the initiative, Xu summarized it with two keywords. The first is "globalization," which means the combination of globalization and localization. For Chinese enterprises to achieve globalization through the markets of countries involved in the initiative, they need to maintain a global perspective and have a mindset that truly integrates and understands local cultures, respects and fully accepts local cultures, and truly establishes long-term sustainable structures there. The second keyword is "long-term perspective."

Many countries involved in the initiative are lagging behind developed countries or even China by several years or even decades. However, most of these countries actually have a very young population who are either digitalizing or being digitalized, and they aspire to a better life. Xu said these are fundamental factors driving social development, but they require time. Therefore, it is important for enterprises aiming at globalization through these markets to not be driven by short-term gains or speculation but rather to truly delve into a long-term opportunity, which will ultimately yield fruitful and highly valuable results.

"The Belt and Road: Investing in China and Converging Thought" themed event was organized by China Daily website and sponsored by China Internet Development Foundation.