With the arrival of 2024, the Belt and Road Initiative has successfully completed its first dynamic decade and is now moving forward into a new golden decade. At this important historical juncture, we cannot help but look back at the brilliant achievements of the past decade and explore why it has become an international public good and a platform for international cooperation that is welcomed by the world. At the same time, we also look to the future and explore how the Belt and Road can achieve higher quality and higher level of development in the new journey.

Pakistan's new Ambassador to China, Khalil Rahman Hashmi, an old friend of China who worked in the Pakistani Embassy in China from 2008 to 2010, has deep feelings and unique insights into China and China-Pakistan relations. Now, with a new mission, he has once again set foot on China's soil and is committed to promoting deep cooperation between China and Pakistan.

When talking about the Belt and Road Initiative, Ambassador Hashemi was full of praise. He believes that this initiative has not only promoted the economic development of countries along the route, but also strengthened cultural exchanges and people-to-people exchanges among countries, becoming an important force to promote the construction of a community with a shared future for mankind. In particular, in the construction of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, the two sides have achieved remarkable results and made positive contributions to the prosperity and stability of the regional economy.

Looking ahead, Ambassador Hashmi said that the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor will continue to be a key project of the Belt and Road cooperation, and its new key construction will pay more attention to sustainable and green development, and promote the optimization and upgrading of the industrial structure of the two sides. At the same time, he hoped that the two sides can jointly push forward the negotiations on the second phase of China-Pakistan free trade agreement, which will open up broader space and bring more new opportunities for bilateral economic and trade cooperation.

Ambassador Hashmi also stressed that Pakistan attaches great importance to cooperation with China and is willing to work with China to jointly promote the Belt and Road Initiative to a higher quality and level of development. He believed that with the joint efforts of both sides, China-Pakistan relations will continue to rise to a new level and make greater contributions to regional and world peace and development. Editor/Xu Shengpeng