B&R Initiative promotes global economic growth

China's Belt and Road Initiative could also be called version 2.0 of the opening up and reform policy and it will promote global economic growth, said Gu Shengzu, vice chairman of the Financial and Economic Affairs Committee of the 12th National People's Congress, on March 6 in Beijing.

According to Gu, Made in China 2025, mass entrepreneurship and innovation and the Belt and Road Initiative are the three engines of China's supply-side structural reform. He made the remarks on the sidelines of the annual parliamentary session.

Gu said he learned during his overseas trips that China's infrastructure building ability has been well recognized by the international community.

Because of the isolationism advocated by some countries and the uncertainty of the international situation, global demand decreased in 2016. The Belt and Road Initiative can be helpful in offsetting the risks brought about by the decreasing demand, Gu said.

While the Trump administration planned to invest US$1 trillion in infrastructure in the United States, Gu said experts estimate that the investment and financing demand in the sector of infrastructure in countries along the route of the initiative will reach US$6 trillion.

According to Gu, Chinese enterprises should actively participate in the construction of major projects in countries and regions along the route of the initiative and build overseas supply bases of strategic resources and manufacturing bases.

Chinese enterprises should also pay attention to brand building, product quality, innovation, research and development. "Take the smartphone industry as an example, no Chinese enterprises were among the top 10 global smartphone companies in 2010. But there were seven Chinese companies in the global top 10 in 2015," said Gu.