In the autumn of 2013, the initiative of jointly building the the Belt and Road came into being. Over the course of thirteen years, there was a shift from freehand brushwork blueprints to meticulous painting and carving. Nowadays, over 150 countries and more than 30 international organizations have signed cooperation agreements, implemented over 4000 projects, driven nearly $1 trillion in investment, and become the world's largest international economic cooperation platform.

How did half of the country grow up

In the first half of 2026, China's import and export to countries jointly building the the Belt and Road will be 12.97 trillion yuan, accounting for 50.9% of the total foreign trade value; Non financial direct investment reached 120.77 billion yuan, accounting for 26.7% of the total. During the same period, the growth rate of global commodity trade was predicted by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development to decrease from 4.7% in 2025 to a range of 1.5% to 2.5% in 2026. The channels are being rolled out synchronously, and by the end of 2022, China has signed contracts worth over 1.2 trillion US dollars for jointly building national contracted projects. China Laos Railway has sent more than 20 million passengers and transported more than 25 million tons of goods in total; The 142 kilometer Yawan high-speed railway reduces the travel time between the two places to 46 minutes; The China Europe freight train has operated over 78000 trains, reaching 217 cities in 25 European countries.

A port's ten-year turnaround

Piraeus Port is the most convincing. When COSCO Shipping took over in 2016, its annual throughput was about 3.74 million TEUs, ranking 93rd; By 2025, it will exceed 5.6 million TEUs and rise to 25th place, contributing approximately 300 million euros annually to the local economy and providing around 3000 job opportunities. In addition to hard connectivity, soft connectivity will follow up synchronously. By the end of 2025, China has signed 16 free trade agreements with 22 co building countries and certified operator mutual recognition agreements with 38 countries; The cross-border clearance of goods at Mohan Port has been compressed to within 5 hours; The cumulative investment in overseas economic and trade cooperation zones has reached 57.13 billion US dollars, creating 421000 job opportunities.

Turning from selling goods to rooting

Since 2020, more than 18000 new discriminatory trade measures have been introduced by various countries, affecting two-thirds of global trade volume. Supply chains in high-risk regions need to reserve a cost buffer of 25% to 28%. The way of going global has been rewritten, shifting from selling products to industrial going global, and from engineering contracting to integrated investment, construction, and operation. China has signed third-party market cooperation agreements with 14 countries, and the tariff revenue of Kribi Deepwater Port has increased from about 1.26 million US dollars in 2019 to about 250 million US dollars in 2021. Key words: the Belt and Road, overseas enterprises, global South

The green ledger has been synchronously strengthened, with photovoltaic module production accounting for over 80% of the world's total. 58 climate cooperation memorandums have been signed with 45 developing countries. Ultimately, this is not a matter of scale, but rather a question of what rules and risk structures are necessary for sustainability.Editor/Min Jing