November 22nd, 2018

(From chinareports.org.cn, Correspondent: Geng Ling) On November 22, 2018, hosted by PwC, the “Co-consultation, Co-construction, Sharing and Win-win” - seminar on lessons learnt and future opportunities for UK-China cooperation in BRI countries was held in Beijing. Dozens of distinguished guests from China and Britain including Mr. Xiao Wunan, Executive Vice Chairman of Asia Pacific Exchange & Cooperation Foundation, Mr. Xin Xiuming, Vice President of China International Contractors Association, Mr. Geng Zhizhong, Head of the Review Division of China Import Export Bank, Mr. Chen Weidong, Director of International Finance Research Institute of Bank of China, Mr. Richard Burn, Trade Commissioner of the British Embassy in China, Lord Peter Budd, Senior Advisor of Arup, and senior members of PwC in London and Beijing exchanged ideas and gained fruitful results.

Ms. Jiang Suwei, Lead Partner of China Business Group of PwC UK, presided over this activity. Mr. Xiao Wunan delivered a keynote speech and said the British government’s participation in China’s “One Belt One Road” initiative is a very forward-looking move. It is gratifying that Britain is also the first Western major country to contribute to China’s “One Belt One Road” initiative. Since 2013, when Chinese President Xi Jinping proposed the cooperation initiatives of the “New Silk Road Economic Belt” and the “21st Century Maritime Silk Road”, “One Belt One Road” has been widely appreciated worldwide and implemented many projects. Of course, there are also some challenges and difficulties, including cultural and geopolitical conflicts. The reasons why we think Sino-British cooperation is groundbreaking are as follows: first of all, many countries along “One Belt One Road”, such as Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Malaysia and India, all have long historical and cultural origins with Britain, their national governance models, financial systems and legal systems can be traced to the same origin; secondly, the United Kingdom has a comprehensive financial market and specialized intermediaries, which can provide high quality services for all countries along the “One Belt One Road” and lay a solid foundation for optimizing project investment and improving efficiency. Sino-British cooperation in developing third-party market has become an important trend of “One Belt One Road” in the future. Not long ago, during Japanese Prime Minister Abe’s visit to China, he signed a cooperation agreement with China to jointly develop third-party markets. As a world-renowned financial institution, PwC can play a unique role in cooperation between the two countries with its unique perspective and professional level. The 360 degree full perspective platform built by them is innovative. Therefore, international professional institutions are undoubtedly positive forces to promote “One Belt One Road” initiative through risk management, credit rating and the establishment of special industrial fund services in the future. Xiao Wunan’s speech won the recognition of the participants.

Asia Pacific Exchange & Cooperation Foundation has made great achievements in promoting the international cooperation in “One Belt One Road” initiative, such as the successful implementation of the Djibouti comprehensive port project in Africa, Lumbini Buddhist complex special zone in Nepal and promoting member states of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa as a whole to participate in the “One Belt One Road” initiative. In promoting the integration of “One Belt One Road” and the actual situation of different countries, there are innovative ideas and practices, such as the implementation of the “Passage to Grassland” initiative in Mongolia and the development of the new North economic belt in Northeast Asia based on the dawn of peace between North and South Korea and the development of the far east of Russia. I believe that through cooperation with the British side, we will make new contributions to international cooperation of the “One Belt One Road” initiative.

Editor in charge: Li Chuanjun