Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation opens in Beijing

Beijing (VNA) – The second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation (BRF) kicked off in Beijing, China on April 26.

The event brings together 37 heads of state and government, along with 5,000 delegates from more than 150 countries and 90 international organisations.

The Vietnamese delegation to the event was led by Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc.

Themed “Belt and Road Cooperation, Shaping a Brighter Shared Future,” the forum is China’s most important diplomatic event in the year.

It includes the opening ceremony, a roundtable between leaders and a high-level dialogue for ministries, representatives of businesses and scholars.

In his opening remarks, Chinese President Xi Jinping called on parties joining the “Belt and Road” Initiative to continue promoting the initiative, towards the goal of sustainable, high-quality development, contributing to improving people’s living standards.

The initiative, which was proposed by President Xi in 2013, is expected to create a large economic and trade network, covering a region with 4.4 billion people and a combined GDP of 21 trillion USD, making up 30 percent of the global GDP.

Vietnam welcomes initiatives and efforts to push ahead with international integration and regional connectivity, and supports China to successfully organise the forum.

The country has affirmed its willingness to cooperate with China and other countries in building and implementing programmes and projects for common peace, development and prosperity in the principles of mutual respect, equality, mutual benefits and observance of the UN Charter and international law, respect for independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of the participating countries.

The forum is scheduled to conclude on April 27 and issue a joint communiqué of the leaders’ roundtable.-VNA