Chinese President Xi Jinping first proposed building the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road in 2013. Looking back at 2016, we can see the bid to reinvigorate the ancient trade routes has gained some early achievements in promoting connectivity and new opportunities. "If we say 2013 was the year of proposal, 2014 was the year of the guideline, 2015 the year of the top-level design, then 2016 was the year of implementing the first landmark projects of the Belt and Road Initiative," said Zhao Lei, a professor at China's Central Party School. The trains that run between China and Europe are a good example of these early achievements. By June 2016, trains had run nearly 2,000 times between China and Europe, transporting goods with a total import and export value of $17 billion. Other major projects include Gwadar Port in Pakistan the Qamchiq Tunnel in Uzbekistan, the longest tunnel in Central Asia and part of what will be the 169-kilometer Angren-Pap railway line. And in October 2016, the contract for the second phase of the China-Laos railway project was signed in the Laos capital Vientiane. The ground-breaking ceremony for the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway was held on Jan 21 last year. The Belt and Road Initiative not only represents China's further opening-up, but also greater regional and intercontinental connectivity. On Aug 10, 2016, Chinese shipping giant COSCO acquired a 67 percent stake in the port of Piraeus in Greece, which is expected to operate as a European hub for the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, and connect it with the Silk Road Economic Belt. In Africa, the Chinese-built Ethiopia-Djibouti railway has officially opened. But such infrastructure projects are not the only focus. "Previously, most of the Belt and Road projects were in areas such as energy and infrastructure. But in 2016, cooperation between China and those countries along the routes has expanded into education, culture, medical care and telecommunications," said Zhao. If the "hard connection" of the Belt and Road draws countries geographically closer, then the "soft connection" brings people together. Till now, over 100 countries and international organizations have expressed willingness to actively support and participate in the Belt and Road Initiative, 40 of them have signed cooperation deals with China. In 2017, a Belt and Road summit will be held to further map out a blueprint for the initiative, explore business opportunities and deepen the alignment of the development strategies of China and other relevant parties. On June 22 last year, during a speech at the Legislative Chamber of the Uzbek Supreme Assembly in Tashkent, Xi called for building a green, healthy, intelligent and peaceful Silk Road, which laid out the direction of the initiative. According to Huang Rihan, executive director of the Belt and Road Institute at the Center for China and Globalization, a green Silk Road urges environmental protection and intensive cultivation for sustained development. A healthy Silk Road means closer and friendly cooperation. An intelligent Silk Road calls for people cultivation and exchanges. A peaceful Silk Road aims at implementing a common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security concept. While addressing the Uzbek Parliament, Xi invited other countries to attend the 2017 Belt and Road Summit. The summit will not only look back at the fruitful harvest made so far, but also set a new starting point for the future. "The Belt and Road Initiative is not a flash in the pan, nor is it mere words," said Zhao. "China wants to go deep with the initiative and turn it into real benefits." "The agreement reached in November by the UN General Assembly to further promote the Belt and Road Initiative worldwide shows that its construction involves not just China, but also countries along the routes and the world at large," said Wang Yiwei, a professor at Renmin University of China.

Speech by Li Wei at the Second DRC－NITI Dialogue Meeting on Nov. 16, 2016 Respected Vice Chairman Panagariya, Ladies and Gentlemen, Good morning. I am very glad to be here in New Delhi, a beautiful city with a long history, to attend the DRC－NITI dialogue meeting between the Development Research Center of China’s State Council and the National Institution for Transforming India. Last year, we held the first dialogue meeting on prospects of economic cooperation between China and India and remaining issues to be addressed and the meeting achieved gratifying results. On October 7 this year, the Fourth Sino-Indian Strategic Economic Dialogue was successfully convened with fruitful outcomes and the two sides signed a package of cooperation agreements. Later on October 15, China’s President Xi Jinping came to India to attend the Eighth BRICS Summit, and made thorough exchanges with Premier Modi on strengthening cooperation in politics, economy and trade, culture and other areas between the two ancient civilizations. President Xi stressed that exchanges between the two Parties, local governments, thinks tanks, culture institutions and media should be strengthened. In this connection, I would like to note that it is of significant importance for us to hold the present think tank dialogue meeting to discuss global economic performance, economic transformation and structural reform, Sino-Indian economic cooperation and other issues. Hereby, on behalf of DRC, I would like to express my warm congratulations on the successful opening of this meeting. I would also like to extend my heartfelt gratitude to all guests present here. It is known to all that it has been over eight years since the outbreak of the international financial crisis in 2008, but world economic recovery still remains unsteady with no clear future. Added to it are lackluster economic growth, slump trade, investment disputes, aggravated trade protectionism, and a turbulent financial market, thus spreading pessimism among people. In the past eight years, China has contributed an average of over one quarter to world economic growth, and India’s economic growth is twice that of the world average in recent three years. Therefore, China and India have become the mainstay for maintaining steady world economic growth and the key engines propelling global recovery. China and India can keep a rapid growth compared with other countries mainly because of two reasons. On one hand, with regard to our current development stage and as developing countries with large populations, China and India are both successful pursuant economies relating to industrialization and urbanization with great development potential. On the other hand, more importantly, leaders of both countries attach high importance to economic development and reform and have adopted a series effective reform measures. Since the Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee, China has been promoting the Four-Pronged Comprehensive Strategy. Guided by the top-level design for the new round of reform and opening-up, we advanced the rule of law, and improved market order to realize a just, equitable, democratic and rule-of-law-based social environment. As for opening to the outside world, China has launched pilot free trade zones, expanded the opening of the service sector and introduced the new management model of “pre-establishment national treatment plus negative list”. At the Fifth Plenary Session of the CPC Central Committee, China proposed the concept of “innovative, coordinated, green, open and shared” development, which set the direction and the principle for economic transformation and structural adjustment. China has also acted proactively in terms of international cooperation and global governance by proposing the joint-building “One Belt and One Road” initiative, conducting international production capacity cooperation, taking the lead in the establishment of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the BRICs’ New Development Bank, and holding successfully the G20 Summit. India also places top priority on regional economic cooperation. It has brought up the “Monsoon Plan” and the “Spice Trail” initiative, implemented the “Made in India” Strategy, improved the environment for utilizing foreign capital, plans to increase the manufacturing share from 15% to 25% in total GDP. Meanwhile, India has vigorously promoted infrastructure construction, improved the basis for economic development, and brought up a series of action plans such as “Digital India”, “Skill India”, “Start-up India”, and “Clean India”. China and India enjoy common understanding on development concepts, their strategic plans are consistent with each other and their policies are mutually beneficial. They could complement each other in construction projects for win-win results. The “Spice Trail” and “Monsoon Plan” proposed by India are consistent with China’s “One Belt and One Road” initiative; the “Made in India” raised by India coincides with “Made in China 2025”; and the “Looking Eastwards” and “Walking Eastwards” advanced by India echoes with China’s intensified effort to open up to western regions. China has accumulated abundant experience in infrastructure construction, industrial park development, the new-type urbanization construction and other fields and stands ready to assist India in accelerating its industrialization and urbanization drive. Meanwhile, Indian software is known as the “world office”; its developed IT industry will help propel China’s strategy of “Internet Plus”. The population of China and India is over one third of the world’s population and contributes around one fifth of the world aggregate GDP. It can be said that Sino-Indian cooperation enjoys great potential and the joint efforts made by China and India will create a better future. Ladies and Gentlemen, There is an ancient Chinese saying: “Empty talk harms the nation and practical action helps it thrive.” India also has a similar idiom: “Even if you have a good luck, you should not relax your efforts, otherwise you cannot get oil even from sesame.” The promising future for Sino-Indian cooperation requires practical efforts from both sides. Currently there remain some problems in bilateral cooperation such as the political mutual-trust needs to be strengthened, the development strategies need to be specifically matched, smooth trade needs to be enhanced according to bilateral actual demand, and a more efficient mode for coordinating macro-economic policies needs to be improved. All these problems require more exchanges of views by both sides so as to promote the building of a cooperation mechanism. The think tanks of China and India should live up to the expectations of our two peoples. We should play as advisers, assistants and bridges to our governments and formulate appropriate plans and policies to make our efforts coordinate with each other so that we could share common experience and better communicate the wishes of our two peoples. The National Institution for Transforming India and the Development Research Center of the State Council of China are both high-end official think tanks and we should play the leading role in bilateral think-tank communications and cooperation. I would like to take this opportunity to make the following suggestions. First, we need to address bilateral relations from a broader perspective and with a long-term point of view. As big states in the world, the development of both countries will influence the entire world order and the development of human civilization. Based on the age-old historical traditions, ancient civilizations and time-honored cordial cooperation, China and India are able to properly manage their differences with their wisdom, identify common interests, strengthen strategic coordination in global economic governance and regional economic cooperation, form a mutually-beneficial and win-win cooperation model and make more contributions to building a fair, just, inclusive and efficient world order. Second, we need to focus on common development tasks and improve bilateral coordination for development strategy. Based on respective economic development and focusing on national major strategies and plans, China and India need to sort out the issues relating to supply and demand and coordinate these issues through dialogues, consultations and joint research. We could launch cooperation plans and programs through mutual assistance to advance development of each other so as to promote the realization of the common strategic goals for development. Third, we need to strengthen joint research and work together to build the mechanism for cooperation. Sino-Indian cooperation could be advanced through a multi-level, multi-sector and systematic model. The think tanks in both countries need to make top-level design about their bilateral cooperation mechanism and improve this systematic and synergetic mechanism viewing respectively from the globe, regions, countries, provinces and enterprises’ perspectives, as well as from the actual requirements raised by different sectors including economy and trade, infrastructure, finance, urbanization, education and culture. Fourth, we need to highlight our common problems and jointly offer solutions. China and India need to be more concerned about economic transformation and structural adjustment, poverty alleviation and disaster relief, regional stability, the fight against terrorism and the promotion of South-South cooperation. We need to abide by the multilateral trade system and remove trade barriers through consultations and positive countermeasures. China and India need to strive to advance the liberalization and facilitation for bilateral trade and investment for our common development. Fifth, we need to play a leading role in jointly promoting practical cooperation. In this connection, DRC and NITI need to play their due role in leading the in-depth exchanges and dialogues between think tanks of China and India and building bridges and platforms for communications and cooperation with the involvement of people from the government, the academia and the business circle of both countries. Currently, DRC is proactively preparing the establishment of the international development knowledge center proposed by President Xi Jinping in September 2015 at the UN Development Summit. We sincerely welcome Indian thinks tanks to join us in such an effort to strengthen experience and knowledge sharing among all countries. Ladies and Gentlemen, President Xi Jinping said that if China and India speak with one voice, that will attract the world notice. Premier Modi pointed out that India and China have the responsibility to join hands and build the 21st century into an Asian century. History has proved that China and India had treated each other with mutual respect and equality. In ancient times, China was known as “Zhen Dan” in India, meaning the sunrising place in the east while India was named as “Tianzhu” in China, referring to the birthplace of Lord Buddha. The peaceful coexistence and mutual learning of the two great nations have made great contributions to human civilization. Currently, the Sino-Indian cooperation serves as the ballast for regional peace, stability, economic prosperity as well as the mainstay for building a fair, reasonable, inclusive and efficient world order for achieving strong, sustainable, balanced and inclusive growth. We hope that think tanks from both countries could, with our wisdom and joint efforts, overcome difficulties and make contributions to building strong economic engines for world economic development. With that, I wish this meeting a complete success. Note: Li Wei, research fellow and Minister of the Development Research Center of the State Council.

An international seminar themed "the Belt and Road Initiative(BRI): Shared Memory and Common Development" was held in Xi'an on September 26th. It was attended by over 400 guests including representatives of think tanks, enterprises and media from more than 30 countries. Liu Qibao, Head of the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China, delivered a keynote speech at the opening ceremony. A report titled "Adhering to the Planning, Orderly and Pragmatically Build the 'Belt and Road'?" was released, which was a result of the research team at Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies of Renmin University of China (RDCY), aiming to systematize and summarize the significant progress of BRI over the past three years and provide actionable ideas for its further implementation. As the leader of the research team, Renmin University of China(RUC) President Liu Wei introduced the report at the opening ceremony. This report provides an overview from eight perspectives: BRI's top-level design, related policy coordination, facilities connectivity, unimpeded trade, financial integration, people-to-people bond, China’s domestic efforts, as well as suggestions for BRI’s future growth. The report notes that over the past three years an array of key projects is underway, with a commitment to achieving common development and shared growth through joint consultation. Two parallel roads, a global chorus The report mentions that with full understanding of the interests and concerns of the countries and regions along the "Belt and Road" , the Initiative upholds the spirit of peace, cooperation, openness, inclusiveness, mutual learning and mutual benefit, and proposes five principles accordingly: the Initiative is in line with the purposes and principles of the UN Charter; the Initiative is open for cooperation, and is open to all countries and international and regional organizations for engagement; the Initiative is harmonious and inclusive; the Initiative follows market rules; and the Initiative seeks mutual benefit. That means China’s BRI is open and inclusive as well as mutually beneficial for all participants. It is a chorus all countries across the globe are welcome to join in. The Initiative calls for all countries and regions along the “Belt and Road” to participate, to work and share benefit together in a bid to realize mutually beneficial and sustainable development. The Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road are the two main routes of the BRI. On land, the Initiative will focus on jointly building a new Eurasian Land Bridge and developing China-Mongolia-Russia, China-Central Asia-West Asia, China-Pakistan, Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar, and China-Indochina Peninsula economic corridors by taking advantage of international transport routes, relying on core cities along the "Belt and Road" and using key economic industrial parks as cooperation platforms. At sea, the Initiative will focus on jointly building smooth, secure and efficient transport routes connecting major sea ports along the "Belt and Road". In order to make greater progress of the BRI, we need to realize closer cooperation and connection between the land and maritime routes, the report says. Five major goals, outstanding progress Policy coordination plays a critical role in supporting the BRI. China has been building policy coordination mechanism at various levels with countries along the "Belt and Road" over the past three years. By the end of June 2016, China had issued joint proposals and statements with 56 countries and regional organizations on bilateral cooperation for implementing the BRI and signed the relevant MoUs or agreements accordingly. Between September 2013 and August 2016, President Xi visited 37 countries (18 in Asia, 9 in Europe, 3 in Africa, 4 in Latin America and 3 in Oceania), where he officially promoted the idea of building the "Belt and Road" as a cooperation initiative and received warm response from concerned countries. Facilities connectivity has been identified as one of the priorities for the BRI. Between the time the BRI was put forward by President Xi in 2013 and June 30, 2016 large state-owned enterprises such as China Railway Group Limited and China Communications Construction Company Limited signed construction contracts for 38 large demonstration projects of transport infrastructure, covering 26 countries and focusing on key routes, port cooperation and the improvement of infrastructure in developing countries. China’s state-owned enterprises participated in the construction of 40 overseas energy projects, including power plants, electricity transmission facilities and oil and gas pipelines, covering 19 countries along the "Belt and Road". Chinese telecommunication service providers such as China Unicom, China Telecom and China Mobile are speeding up cross-border transmission projects in countries along the "Belt and Road" to expand international telecommunication infrastructure. Unimpeded trade is a very important part in building the “Belt and Road”. Over the past three years, China and the “Belt and Road” countries have been working together to facilitate trade and investment activities. From June 2013 to June 2016, China recorded US$3.1 trillion worth of commodity trade along the "Belt and Road", which account for 26 percent of its total trade volume. As of June 30, 2016, China had invested US$51.1 billion in total in these countries, accounting for 12% of China’s overseas direct investment over the same period, and had launched 52 trade and economic cooperation zones in 18 countries along the "Belt and Road", with a total investment of US$15.6 billion. Financial integration is an important underpinning for the successful implementation of the BRI. By June 30th, 2016, China Development Bank had set up an “Belt and Road” project pool involving over 900 projects from over 60 countries in transportation, energy, resources and others sectors. The Export-Import Bank of China holds an outstanding balance of over 1,000 projects involving roads, railways, ports, power resources, pipelines, communication, and industrial parks in the 49 countries along the "Belt and Road". The Export-Import Bank of China also recently signed over 500 projects. In addition, the use of RMB has been expanding in cross-border trade and investment. By June 30, 2016, cross-border RMB settlements between China and countries and regions along the “Belt and Road” had exceeded 2.63 trillion yuan. People-to-people communication provides public support for implementing the BRI. Since the launch of the initiative three years ago, China has been, by upholding the spirit of friendly cooperation of the Silk Road, energetically developing cooperation on culture and education, tourism, health care and medical service, science and technology as well as exchanges among youths, political parties, governments and non-governmental individuals and organizations in countries and regions along the “Belt and Road”, thus winning public support for the implementation of the BRI. oint efforts, all-dimensional strategy The report noted that the BRI is a long-term and systematic program, and China would not only be the initiator but also a responsible and reliable practitioner for steady, practical and orderly construction of the "Belt and Road". Therefore RDCY research team proposed five suggestions for BRI’s future growth. First, building an overall planning and coordination mechanism for efficient and integrated progress. On the one hand, a "positive list"for the construction of the "Belt and Road" could be introduced to guide all sides to identify the trends in building the "Belt and Road" and promote more reasonable policy expectations to be formed at different levels of governments. On the other hand, a "negative list" for the construction of the "Belt and Road" should also be issued to confirm forbidden fields and fully inspire initiative and creativity of participants in building the “Belt and Road”. Second, adhering to principle of long-term consistent progress and encouraging innovative mechanisms and platforms. Since there’s no existing experience for reference, efforts should be made to explore ways of innovative construction. Third, telling BRI stories to boost cohesion among countries for the construction of the "Belt and Road". China should give full interpretation of the BRI’s connotation and denotation and clearly show the positive effects of the BRI, which would facilitate the deepening of international cooperation. This would also help shape mainstream understanding of the BRI among Chinese public, and help reduce misunderstanding toward BRI abroad. Fourth, utilizing the global Chinese network to tap into international talent reserves. Overseas Chinese could serve as an important link to help reduce the gap between China and the countries where they reside. A productive network of global Chinese talent should be developed for the progress of the “Belt and Road”. Fifth,improving business support system to provide all-around and effective assistance. Comprehensive support for Chinese enterprises in terms of investment banking services, business trust, administration, legal affairs, auditing, consulting and investigation should be in place, so as to help Chinese enterprises prosper while going global. This would also offer powerful back-up for the development of the BRI. Contribute wisdom, taking on think tanks’ role RUC always attaches great importance to the research of "Belt and Road" strategy, Liu emphasized when he released the report. basing on the comprehensive advantages on disciplines of arts, humanities and social science, and mechanism innovation, RUC devoted to the building of first-class think tanks with Chinese characteristics, and made effort to provide powerful research results and policy suggestions on the “Belt and Road” construction. Over the past three years, RUC has investigated more than 30 countries and regions along the "Belt and Road" . After the launch of "Vision and proposed actions outlined on jointly building Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road" on March 28th, 2015, RUC published the first monograph " 'Belt and Road Initiative': opportunities and Challenges" which has been translated into over 10 different languages, hosted a number of forums such as "Belt and Road Economic Forum", "Silk Road Economic Belt Cities International Forum" and " 'Belt and Road' strategy and RMB internationalization", built the database of the "Belt and Road", and set up a research and survey team. As one of the authors of this report, the Executive Dean Wang Wen pointed out at an interview, “RDCY was the Executive Director of the Chinese Think Tank Cooperation Alliance for the “Belt and Road”, and the leading think tank to jointly build “Belt and Road” through the cooperation of the official and academic organizations between China and Iran. RDCY had successfully organized a number of think tanks’ dialogues with Iran, Turkey, India, Nepal, the United States, Kazakhstan and other countries, and visited more than 30 countries over a hundred of cities and counties. RDCY plays an important role on the construction of the “Belt and Road” and gets fruitful results over the past three years”. Wang emphasized that we hope to tell China’s stories well with more active and lively examples, and contribute our wisdom and strength in promoting the understanding of BRI across the world and boosting the development of Chinese public diplomacy.