Chongqing- China will steadily expand institutional opening up with regard to rules, regulations, management, and standards, accelerate the transformation into a trader of quality, and promote the high-quality development of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), said Chinese President Xi Jinping in the report to the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC).

As a collaborative endeavor, the BRI has been welcomed by the international community both as a public good and a cooperation platform. China has signed Belt and Road corporation documents with over 140 countries and 30 international organizations, with its trading goods with BRI partner countries reaching around 12 trillion USD as of June.

CPEC influences future global trade and economic dynamics

"China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), the flagship project of the BRI, has opened up opportunities for and strengthening, deepening the connection between the two countries," said Muhammad Zamir Assadi, Special Correspondent of the Independent Pakistan News Agency, in an exclusive interview with iChongqing.

In this era of connectivity, China has emerged as a nation that has been introducing the concepts of building trade corridors and linkages that may help the traders and the people to avail more and more opportunities for trade and exchanges.

China extended its experience towards Pakistan to provide investment for infrastructural gradation, including energy projects, vocational and agricultural development, the building of Gwadar port, modern transportation projects including Orange Line Metro, educational, medical, and cultural exchanges, and other sectors.

Assadi thinks Gwadar Port, through the multibillion-dollar project of CPEC, is not confined to China and Pakistan but has the potential to influence the future global dynamics of trade and economic relations among different countries.

Foreign investment is boosted by free trade zones (FTZ) and special economic zones (SEZ) within Gwadar, offering attractive rates for businesses to set up in Gwadar, including tax holidays, zero VAT, and other incentives for business ownership and employment activity.

"It is understood that traditional globalization begins from the oceanic trade," said Assadi. "Under the concept of coastal uplift, the development of Gwadar is setting high standards not only for Pakistan and China but for the billion-plus population in South Asia."

Currently, CPEC is promoting industrial capacity cooperation in sectors such as chemical and pharmaceutical, engineering goods, agro, iron and steel, light manufacturing and home appliances, and construction materials. "Next, CPEC will expand to the international market as well," said Assadi. 

Muhammad Zamir Assadi, Special Correspondent of the Independent Pakistan News Agency. (Photo provided to iChongqing)

SCO member states learn industrial development from each other

President Xi emphasized strengthening unity and cooperation and promoting the building of an even closer Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) community with a shared future during his attendance at the 22nd meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the SCO and state visits to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan in September, according to Xinhua.

The SCO provides a platform for maintaining constructive dialogue and cooperation among Central Asian countries, China, Russia, India, and Pakistan, and a wide range of Eurasian partners.

The detailed and deeper economic interaction among regional and member countries of SCO has improved the opportunities for learning about industrial development, said Assadi. 

"For instance, industrial production in China and Russia has become a strong base of development in various industries that are changing the dynamics of business patterns," said Assadi. "The industrial development experience of these two countries is a ray of cooperation among member countries, especially for those member states who are entering into a new era of the industrial revolution."

The SCO Summit approved the plan to boost cooperation among member states to develop efficient transport corridors. This is an important development because transportation is critical to the strategy of conjugating Central Asia, Russia, and China, linking the Eurasian European Union, the SCO, and the Silk Road Economic Belt using new economic initiatives.

Photo taken on Jan. 29, 2018, shows a view of Gwadar Port in southwest Pakistan's Gwadar. (Photo/ Xinhua)

Corridors for improving the well-being of people around the globe

China enhances a deeper regional economic interaction among SCO member states, and corridors like the CPEC and the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor (ILSTC) have great importance in further improving the well-being of people around the globe.

Assadi thinks the ILSTC is another example to show the broader and more accessible opportunities for trade and business relying on the expansion of logistics, offering mutual benefits for a shared future.

ILSTC is a trade and logistics passage jointly built by the ASEAN countries and provincial-level regions of western China. Southwest China's Chongqing municipality is the center of operations for the corridor.

"The corridor is not just limited to the logistics movement between China and the ASEAN, but it goes beyond that and has accelerated the cargo handling of auto parts, chemicals, and Chinese pickles," said Assadi.

Such initiatives are the best answers to those advocating unilateralism because these corridors connect the countries on the route regardless of their GDPs, Assadi continued. China plays an active part in reforming and developing the global governance system, where it upholds true multilateralism.

China will construct more corridors and establish a smooth link of connectivity that is building an economic civilization of well-being and prosperity for millions of people in various countries.

Guoyuan Port is a crucial point linking the construction of the Belt and Road and the Yangtze River Economic Belt. (iChongqing/ Vivian Yan)