Dear Excellencies,

Dear guests,

Dear friends,

It gives me great pleasure to attend the BRI Webinar. On behalf of the Embassy of China in Sweden, I’d like to thank the BRIX team and Embassy of Pakistan for their efforts, and my thanks go to those that are committed to BRI international cooperation and friends with us at the webinar.

In 2013, President Xi Jinping proposed the Belt and Road Initiative. Over the past seven years, China has signed more than 200 cooperation documents with 140 countries and 31 international organizations. From 2013 to 2019, China’s trade in goods with BRI countries grew from USD 1.04 trillion to USD 1.34 trillion. In 2020, despite the pandemic, China’s trade with BRI countries was able to increase by 1%, reaching 9.37 trillion RMB. Last year, non-financial investment by Chinese companies in BRI countries reached USD 17.8 billion, up 18.3%. BRI has been proven to be a stable and sustainable economic cooperation mechanism that can well stand the test of the pandemic.

When it comes to improving inter-connectivity through infrastructure, there is no better example than the China-Europe Freight Train. According to statistics, the China-Europe Freight Train conducted 12,400 trips in 2020, up 50%, transporting 1.135 million containers, up 56%, reaching over 90 cities in more than 20 countries.

When it comes to instilling stability into the global value chain and supply chain, the BRI is also significantly effective. In contrast with the shrinking trade around the world last year, owing to the build-up of infrastructure inter-connectivity over the past few years, trade among BRI countries was highly resilient, and such resilience in turn contributes to the recovery of the global value chain and supply chain that took a hit from the pandemic, and injects strong momentum into the economic recovery of various regions and the whole world.

CPEC is a flagship project of BRI cooperation, a project that has achieved fruitful results. A “one plus four” cooperation structure, with CPEC as the link, and the Gwadar Port, transport infrastructure, energy and industries as cooperation focuses, is strongly promoting economic cooperation among regional countries, improving regional security and benefiting the people of the region.

In a world of rising protectionism and mounting challenges against the multilateral trade system, BRI cooperation is a shining success story of multilateralism. We sincerely welcome all countries of the world including the Nordic countries to actively connect with the BRI, and hope that more Nordic companies will actively join the BRI including CPEC on the basis of consultation and consensus, as well as mutual benefits, to enjoy the dividends of building the BRI together.

Let me conclude by wishing the webinar a great success. Thank you.