'Belt and Road could change the world'

Former British PM Gordon Brown hails potential of initiative for global infrastructure

Gordon Brown, the former British prime minister, told leading business figures and politicians from Europe and China on June 13 that the Belt and Road Initiative has the potential to change the world.

He was speaking in London at the opening session of the third Sino-European Entrepreneurs Summit, an annual event aimed at promoting closer China-EU business ties.

The two-day forum, which has previously been held in Paris, gives Chinese and European businesspeople the opportunity to network and study entry strategies into foreign markets.

Top of agenda this year was the Belt and Road Initiative as well as other economic, social and developmental initiatives outlined in the 13th Five-Year Plan, the Chinese government's roadmap for social and economic development between 2016 and 2020, which was finalized in March.

"The Belt and Road strategy is a major initiative China has taken to deliver its overall opening-up strategy," Liu Xiaoming, the Chinese ambassador to the UK, said in his welcome speech. "It will greatly facilitate cross-border flow of capital and technological knowledge, and it will boost development."

The strategy, to create a Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, was proposed by President Xi Jinping in 2013 and is aimed at meeting the demand for infrastructure development and increased trade and connectivity between Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Brown, who served as prime minister from 2007 to 2010 and as chancellor of the exchequer for a decade before that, believes the Belt and Road Initiative has the potential to lift people in poverty into the middle class.

"The initiative recalls a course in history 2,000 years ago when Europe was linked to China by the Silk Road, and now (China's) president has revived this idea in a way that I think has huge potential to change the world," Brown said in his keynote speech.

"Together, we can achieve what is the dream of mankind: that every individual can bridge the gap between what they are and what they have within themselves to become, and this conference and this Silk Road initiative is part of this."

Brown, who is co-chairman of the Sino-European Entrepreneurs Summit, says the Belt and Road Initiative presents great infrastructure opportunities backed up by financial commitments to make these projects possible. This backing includes the China-initiated Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the Silk Road Fund.

In addition, the engineering and scientific benefits that China and Europe can share in the infrastructure investment process will also make a big contribution, he says.

Wu Jianmin, a top policy adviser to the Chinese government on foreign affairs and also co-chairman of the summit, said the Belt and Road Initiative is a key sign of China's economic opening-up and its interdependence with other economies.

"China's modernization cannot be materialized in isolation," he says. "Opening up to the outside world will realize huge economic potential, which will last several centuries."

In the opening panel session at the summit, James Sassoon, chairman of the China-Britain Business Council, and other panelists highlighted the importance of utilizing the financial and professional services available in Britain when constructing Belt and Road projects.

Wu says it is imperative for entrepreneurs from China attempting to enter foreign countries to connect first with accounting, legal and contracting agencies that act as intermediaries into global markets.

Lin Yifu, director of Peking University's Center for New Structural Economics, adds that the Belt and Road Initiative can greatly contribute to Africa's growth and poverty alleviation, as the continent will see new infrastructure and will also take over more of the world's light manufacturing industry as the sector moves away from China.

In this process of infrastructure construction, many African countries will be able to move up the value chain, from low-income to mid-income status, he says, reinforcing Brown's remarks on alleviating poverty.

Lin says that although light manufacturing sectors have fueled China's rapid growth, rising labor costs in the country are making these industries move away, and many low-income countries can benefit by taking them on.

For example, he says, an entry-level position for a Chinese blue-collar worker offers about $600 a month, and this could grow to $1,000 by 2020, meaning China is to face the same challenge of losing competitiveness as Japan did in the 1960s, and as the so-called four Asian Tigers did in the 1980s.

The relocating of light manufacturing to lower-wage countries can allow them to enjoy the same growth that Asian economies have been able to achieve, Lin says, adding that African nations have large and young populations, meaning they are well-positioned to capture the opportunities.

The main panel discussion on June 13 focused on investment and the Chinese currency's role in the international financial system, while parallel panels explored British branding and the creative industries.

Contact the writers on angus@mail.chinadailyuk.com and cecily.liu@mail.chinadailyuk.com