Hong Kong Bauhinia Magazine:

The Central Economic Work Conference proposed promoting high-quality Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) cooperation, with economic and trade cooperation being a key component of the initiative. What is the next step in implementing the relevant arrangements? Thank you.

Yan Dong:

Thank you for your question. Over the past year, the Ministry of Commerce has thoroughly implemented General Secretary Xi Jinping's important remarks on pursuing Belt and Road cooperation, working with relevant countries to promote deeper and more practical economic and trade cooperation under the BRI, making positive contributions to building an open world economy and promoting the building of a community with a shared future for humanity. This is mainly reflected from three new aspects:

First, trade cooperation has shown new highlights. In 2025, China's goods trade with Belt and Road partner countries reached 23.6 trillion yuan, an increase of 6.3% year on year, 2.5 percentage points faster than overall trade growth, with its share rising to 51.9%. From a structural perspective, our exports of products such as electronic components and mechanical equipment, as well as imports of products such as computers and components, have shown good growth momentum, helping BRI partner countries improve their industrial development level. In terms of business formats, the Silk Road E-commerce Promotion events have attracted participation from over 100 countries and achieved more than 240 cooperation results, helping more high-quality products from BRI partner countries enter the Chinese market.

Second, bilateral investment has shown new vitality. In 2025, China's non-financial direct investment in BRI partner countries reached 283.36 billion yuan, an increase of 18%; and BRI partner countries' direct investment in China was 116.81 billion yuan, an increase of 1.9%. Cooperation areas have continued to expand, with 18 new agreements signed with partner countries in fields such as production and supply chain cooperation, digital economy and green minerals, while cooperation in the "Two Countries, Twin Parks" projects between China and Malaysia, and China and Indonesia have been actively advanced.

Third, project construction has shown new results. In 2025, China achieved a turnover of 1.1 trillion yuan in contracted projects in BRI partner countries, an increase of 9.6%. China-Europe freight trains operated more than 20,000 trips throughout the year, and important progress was made on projects such as the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan Railway and the Budapest-Belgrade Railway. More than 700 aid projects, including landmark projects and "small but beautiful" livelihood projects, have been organized and implemented.

Next, we will continue to thoroughly implement the important instructions of General Secretary Xi Jinping, and in accordance with the arrangements of the Central Economic Work Conference, focus on deepening Belt and Road economic and trade cooperation in the following four areas:

First, improving the quality and efficiency of trade facilitation. We will promote negotiations and the signing of free trade agreements with more willing BRI partner countries, and establish trade facilitation working groups. We will continue to develop the "Export China" brand, make full use of major exhibition platforms such as the China International Import Expo (CIIE), and expand imports from BRI partner countries. We will promote the development of trade channels such as the China-Europe freight train service and the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor.

Second, optimizing the space for bilateral investment. We will organize "Invest in China" brand events to attract more BRI partner countries to invest in China. We will guide the reasonable and orderly cross-border layout of industrial and supply chains, make good use of various platforms such as border (cross-border) economic cooperation zones, overseas economic and trade cooperation zones, and :Two Countries, Twin Parks," and actively negotiate and sign cooperation documents on industrial and supply chains.

Third, expanding cooperation in emerging fields. We will promote the negotiation and signing of more cooperation agreements in emerging fields, and deepen cooperation in areas such as green minerals, clean energy, digital economy and artificial intelligence. We will expand our circle of friends in high-quality "Silk Road E-commerce," and establish a high-standard pilot zone for "Silk Road E-commerce" cooperation.

Fourth, creating high-quality cooperation projects. We will coordinate the advancement of landmark projects and "small but beautiful" livelihood projects, implement high-quality foreign contracted projects and foreign aid projects, continue to enhance the image of "small but beautiful" branded products such as Juncao grass, help BRI partner countries improve infrastructure, production and living conditions, and better achieve common development. Thank you.