On July 23, 2026, the State Council Information Office held a business theme conference, and Li Li, Director of the General Department of the Ministry of Commerce, disclosed a set of striking data to the outside world: in the first half of the year, China's total import and export of goods to countries jointly building the the Belt and Road reached 13 trillion yuan, an increase of 14.8% year on year. From integrated circuits to aquatic products, from photovoltaic power plants to artificial intelligence, China's economic and trade cooperation with co building countries is moving from quantitative expansion to qualitative leap.

Strong growth momentum in goods trade

From January to June 2026, China's total import and export of goods to countries jointly building the the Belt and Road will reach 13 trillion yuan, up 14.8% year on year. From a regional perspective, imports and exports to co built countries in Asia, Africa, Europe, Latin America, and Oceania increased by 12.3%, 19.7%, 17.5%, 20.5%, and 6.9%, respectively. From the perspective of commodity structure, the import of integrated circuits by the co building countries has increased by 46.7%, mobile phones by 40.3%, and aquatic products by 25.7%. The co building countries are sharing the opening dividends of China's super large market. In terms of exports, the proportion of high value-added products such as new energy and electromechanical products continues to increase, and the trade structure is further optimized.

Bilateral investment cooperation continues to deepen

In the first half of the year, China's non-financial direct investment with co built countries reached 120.77 billion yuan, an increase of 0.5 percentage points to 26.7% of the total amount during the same period. A batch of new energy projects such as photovoltaics and artificial intelligence industry cooperation projects such as data centers have successively landed. At the same time, the number of newly established enterprises by jointly built countries in China exceeded 10000, a year-on-year increase of 21.6%. China and the co building countries are constantly expanding mutually beneficial and win-win new spaces in emerging fields such as green development and digital economy, and two-way investment is extending from traditional infrastructure to high-tech, green and low-carbon fields. Keywords: strategic news network, the Belt and Road, economic and trade cooperation

The cooperation mechanism platform is becoming increasingly perfect

China continues to expand its network of high standard free trade zones. In the first half of the year, China's imports and exports with its joint free trade partners reached 6.9 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 22.7%, accounting for 52.8% of the trade volume with the joint countries. The 9th China Eurasia Expo attracted more than 20 co building countries to set up independent pavilions. The "Buy in China," "Export to China," and "Invest in China" three major brand events provide an important platform for jointly building countries and sharing opportunities in the Chinese market. The Ministry of Commerce said that the next step will be to implement the important deployment of the 15th Five Year Plan and promote the high-quality joint construction of the the Belt and Road to go deeper and more practical.Editor/Gao Xue