China’s trade with countries participating in its ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has been expanding and totaled 9.27 trillion yuan ($1.34 trillion) in 2019, customs data shows.
It has outpaced the country’s aggregate trade growth by 7.4 percentage points, according to the data.
More than $60 billion in investments have been promised under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), said Zou Zhiwu, vice minister of the General Administration of Customs.
CPEC which connects China’s Xinjiang region with Pakistan’s Gwadar port is regarded as the flagship project of the initiative.
Dubbed the 21st century Silk Road project, the BRI was announced by Chinese President Xi Jinping seven years ago. Since then, Beijing has inked 198 cooperation documents with 167 countries and international organizations.
The multi-trillion-dollar initiative aims to boost connectivity and cooperation between Asia, Europe, Africa, and Latin America. Experts say it will significantly boost global commerce, cutting trading costs by half for the countries involved.
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