PRESS RELEASE
Belt and Road Initiative Summit To Discuss How To Overcome World Depression
April 17, 2017 (EIRNS)—With a special view toward the mid-May Belt and Road Forum Summit in Beijing, Zhang Yunling, National Committee member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and an international studies expert, said during an exclusive interview with Xinhua, that this summit aims to build consensus and reach agreements on major cross-regional projects through consultations.
Zhang said that the global economy has been in a prolonged recession since the global financial crisis in 2008, and that the sluggish recovery since shows that the original growth mechanism through which the developing countries produce, and developed countries consume, fails to sustain. The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) was proposed to help adjust the imbalance in development and therefore promote growth in world economy, Zhang explained.
The BRI, Zhang said, for "building roads and transportation, cannot be addressed by a single country," but building a security mechanism may work.
"The Belt and Road Initiative connects Europe, Asia, and Africa via land and sea. It’s impossible to build highway, high-speed railway, and communication networks in a day. We must prepare for long-term efforts,"
Zhang said.
The BRI, in Zhang’s view, represents a new developing mode and direction.
"Land-sea connection under the Belt and Road Initiative is a further step in strengthening the opening-up policies. It will not only contribute to China’s development, but also to coordinated regional development,"
said Zhang. Scholars from the countries along the Belt and Road also speak highly of the initiative, Zhang noted.
"An Iranian professor said that the Initiative is a developing mode that quite differs from the Western ones. If it works, it will offer a new feasible choice to the world,"
Zhang mentioned.
