2024 Media Cooperation Forum on Belt and Road Initiative kicks off in Chengdu today

By Nisthar Cassim in Chengdu, Sichuan

The 2024 Media Cooperation Forum on China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) kicks off today in Chengdu, Sichuan drawing over 150 international journalists.

Themed “Enhance Media Cooperation for Common Development” the two-day forum focusses on the new role of media in fostering consensus and fathers collective strengths to promote high-quality Belt and Road cooperation. It is organised jointly by China’s flagship media house People’s Daily and the Government of Sichuan Province.

In 2013 Chinese President Xi Jinping proposed the joint construction of BRI, a global infrastructure development strategy re-engineering the famous ancient Maritime Silk Route which includes Sri Lanka and several development projects such as the Hambantota International Port. The eighth forum since 2014, this week’s event aims to promote high quality Belt and Road cooperation.

Chinese and foreign media including the Daily FT has been invited to exchange ideas, share insights and pool wisdom to enhance BRI. 

This week’s forum will also release “Belt and Road Media Cooperation: Chengdu Initiative” aiming to strengthen exchanges, deepen integration and promote mutual benefit and win-win cooperation.  

The BRI is composed of six urban development land corridors linked by road, rail, energy, and digital infrastructure and the Maritime Silk Road linked by the development of ports.

“Belt” refers to the proposed overland routes for road and rail transportation through landlocked Central Asia along the famed historical trade routes of the Western Regions; “Road” is short for the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, which refers to the Indo-Pacific sea routes through Southeast Asia to South Asia, the Middle East and Africa.

This week’s forum will include several parallel sessions focusing on the Belt and Road Regional Cooperation, Media Cooperation Dialogue and Silk Road Culture Development. Additionally an exhibition showcasing achievements in the joint construction of BRI and the third Council Meeting of the Belt and Road News Network.  Following the forum, the international journalists will also visit several regions in Sichuan spanning five days and get a first-hand understanding of some of the key projects under the BRI.

The World Bank estimates that BRI can boost trade flows in 155 participating countries by 4.1%, as well as cutting the cost of global trade by 1.1% to 2.2%, and grow the GDP of East Asian and Pacific developing countries by an average of 2.6 to 3.9%. According to London-based consultants Centre for Economics and Business Research, BRI is likely to increase the world GDP by $ 7.1 trillion per annum by 2040, and that benefits will be “widespread” as improved infrastructure reduces “frictions that hold back world trade”. CEBR also concludes that the project will be likely to attract further countries to join, if the global infrastructure initiative progresses and gains momentum.