How B&R Initiative changes international trade

In history, the famous Silk Road turned many cities in Asia and Europe into prosperous trade centers. China's Belt and Road Initiative today is also creating huge business opportunities for countries along the ancient trade routes.

Under the initiative, China intends to facilitate international trade by building roads, railways, ports and other infrastructure and boost free trade and opening up by promoting alignment with the development plans of other countries.

The initiative has received wide support from the international community, against the backdrop of rising anti-globalization sentiment and protectionism.

Afghan Financial Minister Eklil Ahmad Hakimi said he hopes Afghanistan can integrate into the main economic corridor of the Belt and Road Initiative, and it will be "an important support" to Afghanistan.

He said Afghanistan, as an important bridge between China and Europe on the ancient Silk Road, will strengthen cooperation with China on the construction of the Belt and Road, which will bring economic prosperity and job opportunities to the country.

Official data show that Afghanistan's exports increased by 30 percent year-on-year in 2016, and its imports from China rose by 19 percent.  Such changes are closely related to the acceleration of the Belt and Road construction.

After the China-Europe freight trains were launched, it takes only about 9 to 11 days for China's products to reach Afghanistan via Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. Previously, it took 90 days.

In spite of current sluggish global trade, China's trade with the countries along the routes hit US$914 billion last year, up 0.6 percent year-on-year.

As Premier of Prince Edward Island Wade MacLauchlan said, the cooperation between China and Canada makes it possible for the province to take part in the construction of the Belt and Road, and makes China a major export market for local fresh oysters. He thinks that the Belt and Road Initiative is a key factor facilitating the province's success in trade with China.

Su Qingyi, assistant research fellow at Institute of World Economics and Politics of the Beijing-based Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said the initiative helps boost economic globalization, which not only benefits China itself and lays a solid foundation for stabilizing its foreign trade growth, but brings tangible benefits to the other economies participating in the initiative.

"The Belt and Road construction brings both 'fish' and 'fishing skills'," Su said, explaining that countries along the routes witness steady trade growth, as well as inflow of new trade skills.

Alibaba Inc, China's largest e-commerce giant, has established partnerships with many Indian universities to help them foster e-commerce talents. DHgate.com, another e-commerce enterprise from China, has set up a training camp programme in Brunei to train the country's small and medium enterprises on cross-border trade using e-commerce. This program will expand to other members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in the future.

Wang Shutong, CEO of DHgate.com, said, "Cross-border e-commerce platforms can break the traditional trade barriers among countries and promote openness, fairness and transparency in trade. More and more countries along the routes hope to develop the e-commerce sector, but the main obstacle for some countries lies in the lack of talents."

Wang said that Chinese enterprises have explored a practical and feasible path in cross-border e-commerce. "We are willing to share our experiences with the Belt and Road countries to help them pursue better development."

In fact, considerable discontent and disappointment towards economic globalization, to a large extent, are due to the unfair distribution of the benefits. The spread of cross-border e-commerce and other new trade modes along the Belt and Road can bring tangible benefits to medium and small-sized enterprises and people in these countries, promote inclusive growth and tackle the global "confidence crisis."

Under such circumstances, the Belt and Road construction not only facilitates trade in the Asia-Pacific region and even the world, but promotes mutual beneficial and win-win cooperation among all participating countries, offsets the negative effects of economic globalization and provides support for a new round of globalization.

( Li Xiaoyu is a reporter with Chinanews.com. The article was translated by Jason Lee from an unabridged version published in Chinese.)