China has signed a contract regarding trade deals with the member countries of its enterprising ‘Belt and Road Initiative’. As reported by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, the deal worth USD 390 billion has been signed in the first four months of this year.
The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is an expansion programme initiated in 2013 by the Chinese government the objective of which is to maintain connectivity and cooperation between Eurasian countries. The BRI’s aim is to build trade and infrastructure networks linking economies around the whole world along the ancient Silk Route. At present, over 100 countries and international organizations have supported and became a part of this initiative.
Gao Feng, the commerce ministry spokesperson confirmed the news and quoted,”China and countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative inked trade deals worth $389.1 billion in the first four months. It represented a growth of 19.2 percent year on year.” He also added,“Construction of major projects have progressed well with a range of railways and infrastructures going smoothly.”
The non-financial investment by China in the member countries of the Belt and Road Initiative came up to $4.67 billion increased by 17.3% from the same period a year ago. Business amount of migratory contract projects arrived at $24.2 billion increased by 27.7 percent year on year.
Economic incorporation of China and the member countries of Belt and Road attained encouragement and strength. The Free Trade Agreement (FTA) conducted between China and Georgia has also proved to be effective. It also signed an economic and trade cooperation pact with the Eurasian Economic Union.
According to the reports, China had built 75 economic and trade cooperation zones along the Belt and Road countries with an accumulated investment of $25.5 billion by the end of April. Over 3,800 companies have become a part of the cooperation zones and are paying taxes around $1.7 billion and creating nearly 220,000 jobs.