China is hosting its third Belt and Road Forum this week. The conference in Beijing on October 17-18 reportedly marks the 10th anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) championed by Xi, with representatives from many developing countries, notably from Latin America and Africa, expected to attend.
Xinhua reports that 70 delegations are participating in the forum.
CNN says this marks China’s first time hosting such an event since emerging from nearly three years of pandemic isolation
Among the notable guests of the forum is Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The Guardian says a representative of the Taliban is also attending the event, while the mow senior representatives from is expected to be Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban, “who is much more supportive of China than other leaders of the bloc.”
As far as Central Asia’s leaders are concerned, Kazakh and Uzbek presidents have arrived in Beijing to attend the 3rd BRI forum.
Meanwhile, an official source within the Tajik president’s press service told Asia-Plus today morning that Tajik President Emomali Rahmon did not travel to Beijing for participation in third Belt and Road Forum.
The source did not disclose the reason, but noted that Emomali Rahmon is scheduled to pay a working visit to Khatlon province from October 19-21.
To find out if someone will represent the country at the forum, Asia-Plus has contacted the Foreign Ministry. However, we were unable to get an answer from either the Foreign Ministry or Tajikistan’s Embassy in Beijing.
Citing Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu, Xinhua reports that the third BRF is expected to produce substantial outcomes, both in the forms of cooperation documents, initiatives and mechanisms, and in terms of projects, funds and measures. The total number of deliverables is likely to exceed those of the previous two forums.
Chinese President Xi Jinping unveiled his proposal to jointly build a Silk Road Economic Belt and a 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, dubbed the Belt and Road Initiative, in 2013.
The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI, or B&R), known within China as the One Belt One Road, or OBOR/1B1R for short, is a global infrastructure development strategy to invest in more than 150 countries and international organizations.
Since its launch 10 years ago, the BRI has evolved from ideas into actions, from a vision into reality. By June 2023, China had reportedly signed more than 200 BRI cooperation agreements with over 150 countries and 30-plus international organizations across five continents, yielding a number of signature projects and small-scale yet impactful projects.
