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Sun May 14, 2017 | 1:30 AM EDT
China pledges $124 billion for new Silk Road, says open to everyone

Chinese President Xi Jinping (R) speaks with Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) during a bilateral meeting at Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, China, 14 May 2017.
REUTERS/WU HONG/POOL

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres speaks during the opening ceremony of the Belt and Road Forum at the China National Convention Center (CNCC) in Beijing, May 14, 2017.
REUTERS/MARK SCHIEFELBEIN/POOL



By Brenda Goh and Yawen Chen | BEIJING

(Reuters) - Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged $124 billion on Sunday for his ambitious new Silk Road plan, saying everyone was welcome to join what he envisioned would be a path for peace and prosperity for the world.

China has touted what it formally calls the Belt and Road initiative as a new way to boost development since Xi unveiled the plan in 2013, aiming to expand links between Asia, Africa, Europe and beyond underpinned by billions of dollars in infrastructure investment.

"We should build an open platform of cooperation and uphold and grow an open world economy," Xi told the opening of a summit on the new Silk Road.

"We should jointly create an environment that will facilitate opening up and development, establish a fair, equitable and transparent system of international trade and investment rules," he added.

Xi pledged a massive funding boost to the new Silk Road, including:

- an extra 100 billion yuan ($14.50 billion) into the existing Silk Road Fund

- 250 billion yuan in loans from China Development Bank

- 130 billion yuan in loans from Export-Import Bank of China

- 60 billion yuan in aid to developing countries and international institutions in new Silk Road countries

- encouraging financial institutions to expand their overseas yuan fund businesses to the tune of 300 billion yuan

- 2 billion yuan in emergency food aid

- $1 billion to a South–South Cooperation fund

- $1 bln for cooperation projects in countries on the new Silk Road

He did not give a timeframe.

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Leaders from 29 countries are attending the forum, which ends on Monday.

China formally calls the scheme in English the Belt and Road initiative.

Some Western diplomats have expressed unease about both the summit and the plan as a whole, seeing it as an attempt to promote Chinese influence globally.

China has rejected criticism of the plan and the summit, saying the scheme is open to all, is a win-win and aimed only at promoting prosperity.

"What we hope to create is a big family of harmonious co-existence," Xi said, adding pursuit of the initiative will not resort to outdated geopolitical maneuvering.

"What we hope to achieve is a new model of win-win cooperation."

Some of China's most reliable allies and partners will attend the forum, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev.

There are also several European leaders attending, including the prime ministers of Spain, Italy, Greece and Hungary.



(Additional reporting by Michael Martina; Writing by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Randy Fabi)

Our standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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[Kabira]

 

[Maxpane]

wooooooow

 

[cocomo]

 

[AZADPAKISTAN2009]

Congrats to Pakistan and China on this cooperation

 

[Pakistansdefender]

I see this one belt one road summit as a start of new alliance , haven't you guys notice 4 world leaders coming together signaling a new aliance which we are mentioning on this forum a lot . Pakistan , china , turkey and Russia coming together .....

 

[Hyde]

I believe all of these projects were always part of the CPEC

 

[Samlee]

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan signed new deals with China on Saturday worth nearly $500 million ahead of Beijing's international forum on its "Silk Road" trade and infrastructure initiative for Asia, Africa and Europe, the Pakistani government said.

The memorandums of understanding add to $57 billion already pledged for the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a network of rail, road and energy infrastructure that is part of the wider Chinese project also known as One Belt-One Road.

The deals came as Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif met Chinese President Xi Jinping ahead of the Beijing summit expected to be attended by leaders from at least 29 countries to promote Xi's vision of expanding trade links.

Delegates in Beijing will hold a series of sessions on Sunday to discuss the plan in more detail, including trade and finance.

Proposed in 2013 by Xi, the project is broad on ambition but still short on specifics.

Pakistan has been a flagship country and one of the most enthusiastic supporters of the One Belt-One Road initiative, in part because many projects are for power plants to alleviate the country's decade-long energy-shortage crisis that sees frequent blackouts.

"China-Pakistan Economic Corridor is a core component of your visionary initiative of the "One Belt-One Road," Sharif told Xi when they met at the Great Hall of China on Saturday, according to the Associated Press of Pakistan.

PROJECTS

Xi called for a swift completion of projects involving Gwadar Port and special economic and industrial parks along the corridor, state Xinhua news service reported.

Among the 3.4 billion RMB($493 million) in deals Sharif's office said were signed on Saturday were:

- Two cooperation agreements worth 2.3 billion RMB ($333 million) for an airport in the southwestern town of Gwadar, site of a deep-water port that is to provide an outlet to the Arabian Sea from the far western Chinese province of Xinjiang.

- Establishment of the Havelian Dry Port in Pakistan.

- Agreement on economic and technical cooperation (1.1 billion RMB) ($160 million) for the East Bay Expressway linking Gwadar to Pakistan's existing highway system.

China says that between 2014 and 2016, its businesses signed projects worth $304.9 billion in Belt and Road countries. Some of the projects could be in development for years.

Some countries are wary of the debt burden that the Chinese financing could create.

Pakistan, however, has expressed an optimistic view, with the government's chief economist telling Reuters this week that the repayments will peak at around $5 billion in 2022, but will be more than offset by transit fees charged on the new transport corridor.
http://nation.com.pk/business/13-Ma...00-million-in-china-deals-at-silk-road-summit

Wait A Minute Weren't Gwadar International Airport Havelian Dry Port and East Bay Expressway Agreements Signd in 2014

 

[Dawood Ibrahim]

• XI says China sharing its own wisdom, solutions for global growth, governance

Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged $124 billion on Sunday for his new Silk Road plan to forge a path of peace, inclusiveness and free trade, and called for the abandonment of old models based on rivalry and diplomatic power games.

Addressing the opening of the prestigious gathering, he used a summit on the initiative, attended by leaders and top officials from around the world, to bolster China’s global leadership image. “We should build an open platform of cooperation and uphold and grow an open world economy,” Xi told the opening of the two-day gathering here.

China has stated what it formally calls the Belt and Road initiative as a new way to boost global development since Xi unveiled the plan in 2013, aiming to expand links between Asia, Africa, Europe and beyond underpinned by billions of dollars in infrastructure investment.

President Xi said that the world must create conditions that promote open development and encourage the building of systems of fair, reasonable and transparent global trade and investment rules. He pledged a major funding boost to the new Silk Road, including an extra 100 billion yuan ($14.50 billion) into the existing Silk Road Fund, 380 billion yuan in loans from two policy banks and 60 billion yuan in aid to developing countries and international bodies in countries along the new trade routes.

In addition, he said that China would encourage financial institutions to expand their overseas yuan fund businesses to the tune of 300 billion yuan. The Chinese president did not give a timeframe for the new loans, aid and funding pledged on Sunday. Leaders from 29 countries attended the forum, as well as heads of the UN, International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

President Xi said the Belt and Road Initiative was a project of the century that would benefit people across the world. “Spanning thousands of miles and years, the ancient silk routes embody the spirit of peace and cooperation, openness and inclusiveness, mutual learning and mutual benefit,” Xi told an audience of more than 1,500.

He said that the Silk Road spirit has become a great heritage of human civilization. By linking countries and regions that account for about 60 percent of the world’s population and 30 percent of global GDP, the initiative is a perfect example of China sharing its own wisdom and solutions for global growth and governance. “The pursuit of this initiative is based on extensive consultation and its benefits will be shared by us all,” he said.

All countries, from either Asia, Europe, Africa or the Americas, can be international cooperation partners of the Belt and Road Initiative, he said. Xi noted that the humankind has reached an age of great progress, great transformation and profound changes, while the world is fraught with challenges. He said that the global growth requires drivers, development needs to be more inclusive and balanced, and the gap between the rich and the poor needs to be narrowed.

With the Belt and Road Initiative, China wants to turn the legends of the ancient Silk Road into a modern story of inclusive growth and cross-continental cooperation. In Washington, White House adviser Matt Pottinger said that the United States welcomed efforts by China to promote infrastructure connectivity as part of its Belt and Road initiative, and the American companies could offer top value services.


https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2017/05/14/china-pledges-124bn-for-new-silk-road-plan/

 

[Pakistansdefender]

t

Wait A Minute Weren't Gwadar International Airport Havelian Dry Port and East Bay Expressway Agreements Signed in 2014

well those were mou's .........now is the time when they finally released the funds ..............similarly the 50 billion $ of indus cascade is still mou , how we work it out and peruse it is our diplomacy .....

 

[tw00tw00]

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-silkroad-pakistan-idUSKBN1890KD

Pakistan signs nearly $500 million in China deals at Silk Road summit

By Kay Johnson | ISLAMABAD

Pakistan signed new deals with China on Saturday worth nearly $500 million ahead of Beijing's international forum on its "Silk Road" trade and infrastructure initiative for Asia, Africa and Europe, the Pakistani government said.

The memorandums of understanding add to $57 billion already pledged for the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a network of rail, road and energy infrastructure that is part of the wider Chinese project also known as the Belt and Road initiative, or One Belt, One Road.

The deals came as Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif met Chinese President Xi Jinping ahead of the Beijing summit expected to be attended by leaders from at least 29 countries to promote Xi's vision of expanding trade links.

Delegates in Beijing will hold a series of sessions on Sunday to discuss the plan in more detail, including trade and finance.

Proposed in 2013 by Xi, the project is broad on ambition but still short on specifics.

Pakistan has been a flagship country and one of the most enthusiastic supporters of the One Belt-One Road initiative, in part because many projects are for power plants to alleviate the country's decade-long energy-shortage crisis that sees frequent blackouts.

"China-Pakistan Economic Corridor is a core component of your visionary initiative of the 'One Belt-One Road'," Sharif told Xi when they met at the Great Hall of China on Saturday, according to the Associated Press of Pakistan.

PROJECTS

Xi called for a swift completion of projects involving Gwadar Port and special economic and industrial parks along the corridor, state Xinhua news service reported.

In a separate meeting, Premier Li Keqiang told Sharif that China hopes Pakistan "will intensify its efforts in protecting the safety of Chinese personnel in the nation, and ensure the security of related projects," Xinhua added.

Wary of Islamist militants, Pakistan has set up a new army division to protect the economic corridor. Ten Pakistani laborers were gunned down on Saturday while working on link roads to connect outlying towns to the Belt and Road initiative.

Among the 3.4 billion yuan ($492.95 million) in deals Sharif's office said were signed on Saturday were:

* Two cooperation agreements worth 2.3 billion yuan for an airport in the southwestern town of Gwadar, site of a deep-water port that is to provide an outlet to the Arabian Sea from the far western Chinese region of Xinjiang.

* Establishment of the Havelian Dry Port in Pakistan.

* Agreement on economic and technical cooperation worth 1.1 billion yuan for the East Bay Expressway linking Gwadar to Pakistan's existing highway system.

China says that between 2014 and 2016, its businesses signed projects worth $304.9 billion in Belt and Road countries. Some of the projects could be in development for years.

Some countries are wary of the debt burden that the Chinese financing could create.

Pakistan, however, has expressed an optimistic view, with the government's chief economist telling Reuters this week that the repayments will peak at around $5 billion in 2022, but will be more than offset by transit fees charged on the new transport corridor.

(Writing by Kay Johnson; Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard in Beijing; Editing by Gareth Jones and Marguerita Choy)

 

[tw00tw00]

http://in.reuters.com/article/china-silkroad-idINKBN18A02N

China pledges $124 billion for new Silk Road as champion of globalisation

Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged $124 billion on Sunday for his new Silk Road plan to forge a path of peace, inclusiveness and free trade, and called for the abandonment of old models based on rivalry and diplomatic power games.

Xi used a summit on the initiative, attended by leaders and top officials from around the world, to bolster China's global leadership ambitions as U.S. President Donald Trump promotes "America First" and questions existing global free trade deals.

"We should build an open platform of cooperation and uphold and grow an open world economy," Xi told the opening of the two-day gathering in Beijing.

China has touted what it formally calls the Belt and Road initiative as a new way to boost global development since Xi unveiled the plan in 2013, aiming to expand links between Asia, Africa, Europe and beyond underpinned by billions of dollars in infrastructure investment.

Xi said the world must create conditions that promote open development and encourage the building of systems of "fair, reasonable and transparent global trade and investment rules".

Hours before the summit opened, North Korea launched another ballistic missile, further testing the patience of China, its chief ally. The United States had complained to China on Friday over the inclusion of a North Korean delegation at the event.

MASSIVE FUNDING BOOST

Xi pledged a major funding boost to the new Silk Road, including an extra 100 billion yuan ($14.50 billion) into the existing Silk Road Fund, 380 billion yuan in loans from two policy banks and 60 billion yuan in aid to developing countries and international bodies in countries along the new trade routes.

In addition, Xi said China would encourage financial institutions to expand their overseas yuan fund businesses to the tune of 300 billion yuan.

Xi did not give a time frame for the new loans, aid and funding pledged on Sunday.

Leaders from 29 countries attended the forum, as well as the heads of the United Nations, International Monetary Fund and World Bank.

Britain's finance minister told the summit his country was a "natural partner" in the new Silk Road, while the prime minister of Pakistan, Nawaz Sharif, a close Chinese ally, praised China's "vision and ingenuity".

"Such a broad sweep and scale of interlocking economic partnerships and investments is unprecedented in history," Sharif said.

White House adviser Matt Pottinger said the United States welcomed efforts by China to promote infrastructure connectivity as part of its Belt and Road initiative, and U.S. companies could offer top value services.

India refused to send an official delegation to Beijing, reflecting displeasure with China for developing a $57 billion trade corridor through Pakistan that also crosses the disputed territory of Kashmir.

"No country can accept a project that ignores its core concerns on sovereignty and territorial integrity," said Indian foreign ministry spokesman Gopal Baglay, adding that there were concerns about host countries taking on "unsustainable debt."

China plans to import $2 trillion of products from countries participating in its Belt and Road initiative over the next five years, Commerce Minister Zhong Shan said.

UNEASE OVER SUMMIT

But some Western diplomats have expressed unease about both the summit and the plan as a whole, seeing it as an attempt to promote Chinese influence globally. They are also concerned about transparency and access for foreign firms to the scheme.

Australian Trade Minister Steven Ciobo said Canberra was receptive to exploring commercial opportunities China's new Silk Road presented, but any decisions would remain incumbent on national interest.

"China is willing to share its development experience with all countries," Xi said. "We will not interfere in other countries' internal affairs. We will not export our system of society and development model, and even more will not impose our views on others."

"In advancing the Belt and Road, we will not re-tread the old path of games between foes. Instead we will create a new model of cooperation and mutual benefit," Xi said.

North Korea, which considers China its sole major diplomatic ally and economic benefactor, raised eyebrows when it decided to send a delegation to the summit.

The North Korean delegation largely kept a low profile at the summit, and there was no evidence that its presence had affected participation despite U.S. misgivings.

FINANCIAL INCLUSIVENESS

Xi said the new Silk Road would be open to all, including Africa and the Americas, which are not situated on the traditional Silk Road.

"No matter if they are from Asia and Europe, or Africa or the Americas, they are all cooperative partners in building the Belt and Road."

The idea of cooperation and inclusiveness extends to funding projects and investments along the new trade routes, which are being developed both on land and at sea.

"We need joint effort among Belt and Road countries to boost financing cooperation," Zhou Xiaochuan, governor of China's central bank, said.

To sustain the projects, Belt and Road nations should allow companies to play a key role, as government resources are limited, Zhou said.

The active use of local currencies will also help to mobilise local savings, lower remittance and exchange costs, and safeguard financial stability, he said.

At the forum, finance ministries from 27 countries, including China, approved a set of principles that will guide project financing along the new Silk Road.

Germany, which was not among the countries that approved the financing guidelines, said its firms were willing to support the Belt and Road initiative, but more transparency was needed.

Some of China's close allies and partners were at the forum, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev.

There were also several European leaders attending, including the prime ministers of Spain, Italy, Greece and Hungary.

Chinese state-run media has spared no effort in its coverage of the summit, including broadcasting an awkwardly-named English-language music video "The Belt and Road is How" sung by children from countries on the new Silk Road.

($1 = 6.8972 Chinese yuan)

 

[StraightShooter]

This is OBOR to India. - BCIM (Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar)

 

[Kabira]

Wait A Minute Weren't Gwadar International Airport Havelian Dry Port and East Bay Expressway Agreements Signd in 2014

Mou, construction will start now.

 

[Clutch]

Welcome Banquet

Evening Gala