Hong Kong Bauhinia Magazine:

What new progress and achievements have been made in terms of Belt and Road economic and trade cooperation in 2022? How will it advance this year? Thank you.

Yang Tao:

Thank you for your questions. Since the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) was put forward more than nine years ago, MOFCOM has conscientiously implemented the decisions and plans of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council and continuously deepened the economic and trade cooperation along the Belt and Road, which has effectively promoted mutual benefit and win-win cooperation with the partner countries, and provided important support for the high-quality development of the BRI. During the previous year, thanks to the joint efforts of all parties, the Belt and Road economic and trade cooperation has taken new steps, and the results are mainly reflected in the following four aspects:

First, trade and investment grew rapidly. In 2022, China's trade with countries along the Belt and Road hit a record high, with the volume of trade in goods reaching 13.8 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 19.4% and 11.7 percentage points higher than the overall growth rate. The two-way investment between China and Belt and Road countries also reached a new level, covering multiple industries. Among them, the non-financial direct investment in the countries along the Belt and Road was 141.05 billion yuan, and the actual investment in China by the countries along the Belt and Road was 89.15 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 7.7% and 17.2%, respectively, which are 0.5 percentage point and 10.9 percentage points higher than the overall growth rate, respectively.

Second, project construction achieved solid and effective results. In 2022, China's newly signed contracted projects in countries along the Belt and Road were valued at 871.84 billion yuan, with a turnover of 571.31 billion yuan, accounting for 51.2% and 54.8% of its total contracted projects there, respectively. Steady progress was made in the construction and operation of key projects such as the China-Laos railway and the Hungary-Serbia railway, and a number of "small but beautiful" livelihood projects involving agriculture, medical care, and poverty reduction were implemented one after another. Overseas economic and trade cooperation zones were upgraded. By the end of 2022, the cooperation zones built by Chinese companies in countries along the Belt and Road had seen an investment of 397.9 billion yuan in total, creating 421,000 local jobs. More than 16,000 trips were operated by China-Europe Railway Express throughout the year, a year-on-year increase of 9%. The construction of new land-sea transit routes opened a new chapter. A China-Singapore cooperation plan on jointly building the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor was implemented. These high-quality cooperation projects have effectively promoted the economic and social development of the host countries and brought a real sense of fulfillment to the local people.

Third, cooperation has been continuously expanded. Cooperation in the fields of new energy, energy conservation, environmental protection, and new infrastructure construction boomed. In 2022, China signed 31 memorandums of investment and cooperation involving green development, the digital economy, and the blue economy with relevant countries, creating more development opportunities for Belt and Road cooperation. The Silk Road e-commerce circle of friends continues to expand and the number of our partner countries that have established bilateral e-commerce cooperation mechanisms has increased to 29. In addition, special e-commerce activities such as online shopping festivals featuring quality African products and "Buy at BRICS" online promotion events have become new highlights of the cooperation.

Fourth, mechanisms and platforms have been well improved. We actively leveraged the role of multilateral and bilateral economic and trade mechanisms, deepened communication and alignment, and established 12 new cooperation mechanisms for trade, investment, and trade in services with relevant countries. Key cooperation such as the "nine programs" of China-Africa cooperation and the demonstration zones jointly built with ASEAN countries for economic innovative development was advanced in an orderly manner. China-ASEAN Expo, China-Eurasia Expo, China-Central Asia Economic and Trade Cooperation Forum, China-Latin America Infrastructure Cooperation Forum , and other exhibition forums were successfully held.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative. MOFCOM will thoroughly implement General Secretary Xi Jinping's important instructions and guiding principles on Belt and Road cooperation, implement the decisions and plans of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council in a solid way, deepen unimpeded trade, tap new potentials of investment and cooperation, improve quality and efficiency, and make new contributions to high-quality development of the BRI! Thank you!

Shou Xiaoli:

Thank you to Ms. Guo, our speakers, and also to all the friends from the media. That's all for today's press conference.

Translated and edited by Wang Yiming, Wang Qian, Xu Xiaoxuan, Zhang Rui, Cui Can, Zhang Junmian, Qin Qi, Liu Sitong, Xu Kailin, Ma Yujia, Li Xiao, Zhang Liying, Li Huiru, Zhu Bochen, Liu Qiang, Yan Bin, Wang Wei, David Ball, Tom Arnsten, and Jay Birbeck. In case of any discrepancy between the English and Chinese texts, the Chinese version is deemed to prevail.