Chinese president Xi Jinping has pledged to put USD 40 billion into a Silk Road Fund to improve infrastructure links across the Asia-Pacific.
During a meeting in Beijing on Asia-Pacific development with leaders from Bangladesh, Cambodia, Laos, Mongolia, Myanmar, Pakistan and Tajikistan, Xi said that the ambitious project is designed to “break the connectivity bottleneck” in Asia.
“Such a framework accommodates the needs of various countries and covers both land and sea-related projects,” Xi also said ahead of a separate summit of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) organization, adding that Asian nations are ready to “get on board the train of China’s development.”
More policies are said to be announced soon to encourage Chinese banks to finance the projects, and Chinese companies will also be asked to invest in the countries along the new Silk Road and to bid for contracts.
Xi also hopes that the Silk Road strategy will drive broad-based development in border regions like Xinjiang, Tibet and Yunnan through the development of high-speed rail and international ports, according to South China Morning Post.
Xi had earlier announced that China would accelerate the construction of both the economic belt and the maritime Silk Road, and strengthen cooperation with the countries involved.
Unlike from the ancient Silk Road, which mainly focused on trade, the "One Belt and One Road," an idea initiated by Xi Jinping last year, could also include the flow of financial elements, information, technology and personnel.
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