Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi Photo: Ministry of Foreign Affairs

China will work with the international community to continue advancing high-quality Belt and Road cooperation as the cooperation has maintained a sound momentum despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and other factors, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said at a press conference in Beijing on Monday. 

Wang noted that the "hard connectivity" of infrastructure made solid progress, while the "institutional connectivity" of rules and standards yielded fruitful results, and the "people-to-people connectivity" featuring mutual help and assistance continued to deepen. 

Wang highlighted some achievement made over the last year. Major projects such as the China-Laos Railway have completed on schedule, while projects under construction such as the Jakarta-Bandung High-speed Railway has been making steady progress.

On Jakarta-Bandung High-speed Railway, Wang stressed that China will work for the early completion and operation of the project to further boost Indonesia's post-COVID development and the mutually beneficial cooperation between the two countries. 

Wang said that China-ASEAN relations will speed ahead like the trains running on the China-Laos Railway. Wang noted that China and ASEAN will promote the full and effective implementation of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and start the construction of China-ASEAN Free Trade Area Version 3.0 as soon as possible, while expanding cooperation in new fields to create a new benchmark for regional cooperation

The Chinese foreign minister emphasized that the number of China-Europe trains and freight volume hit a new record high last year, providing a strong impetus for the economic recovery across a number of countries. 

Moving forward, Wang said that China will aim for higher-level cooperation, better cost-effectiveness, higher-quality supply and stronger development resilience, to make the Belt and Road Initiative a "belt of development" to the benefit of the world and become a "road to happiness" for people of all participating economies.

Global Times