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The Belt and Road Initiative was initially proposed by President Xi Jinping in 2013, with the objective of increasing interconnectivity and free trade, while creating more opportunities for China and B&R countries. By end of Apr 2019, China has signed 174 cooperative documents with 134 countries, and 29 international organizations, covering Asia, Europe, Africa, Oceania, and Latin America.

As a world leading professional service provider, PwC aligns with the national strategy through ongoing support for the Belt & Road Initiative. In 2017, we started to build our platform “Belt & Road United” as a means of drawing together key influencers, while optimising PwC’s global network resources to contribute to the Belt & Road Initiative. Till now, PwC has achieved:

• In PwC global network, 100 offices are within B&R countries and regions, with a coverage rate of 75 percent.
• PwC “Belt & Road United” has established China desk at 5 Belt & Road prioritised countries including Poland, Dubai, Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia. Experienced project managers have also been posted to cooperate with the local firm to serve the market.
• PwC “Belt & Road United” has established branches in 10 cities of China to serve local and surrounding markets. Strategic cooperation agreements have been signed with Government agencies to strengthen the international cooperation and development under “Belt & Road” initiative.
• While optimising PwC’s global network resources to contribute to the Belt & Road Initiative, PwC “Belt & Road United” has created tremendous opportunities for Chinese enterprises to invest in Belt and Road countries. Since its establishment, we’ve introduced country investment overview and opportunities of 28 Belt and Road countries and invited local experts as well as “go global” enterprises to share successful cases.

"Belt and Road" Initiatives achievements

Infrastructure

1. Significant progress has been made in the construction of international economic cooperation corridors and passageways. Asian economic circle connected well with the European economic circle.
2. Major progress has been made in building inter-regional and intercontinental railway networks. China-Europe rail service had connected 108 cities in 16 countries in Asia and Europe with a total of 14,000 trains served. The average inspection rate and customs clearance turnover time have both decreased by 50 percent.

Trade

From 2013 to 2018 the value of trade between China and other B&R countries surpassed US$6 trillion, accounting for 27.4 percent of China's total trade in goods.

Finance

1. The China-EU Joint Investment Fund, which began operation in July 2018 with an injected capital of EUR500 million from the Silk Road Fund and the European Investment Fund, has helped the Belt and Road Initiative to dovetail with the Investment Plan for Europe.
2. The People's Bank of China has rolled out joint financing programs with the International Finance Corporation under the World Bank Group and other multilateral development institutions. By the end of 2018 these institutions had invested in more than 100 programs in over 70 countries and regions.
3. By the end of 2018 the China Export & Credit Insurance Corporation had endorsed US$600 billion on export to and investment in the participating countries.
4. Commerzbank became the first German bank to join the banking mechanism of the Belt and Road Initiative when it signed an MoU on cooperation with the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China.

Academic exchange

The Chinese Government Scholarship - Silk Road Program has been set up, and China has signed agreements with 24 B&R countries on the mutual recognition of higher education degrees.

Health and medicine

China has established traditional Chinese medicine centers in 35 B&R countries, and 43 international TCM cooperation bases.

Industrial cooperation

1. From 2013 to 2018 China's direct investment in B&R countries surpassed US$90 billion, realizing a turnover of US$400 billion in foreign contracted projects in these countries.
2. China has signed agreements on industrial cooperation with more than 40 countries including Kazakhstan, Egypt, Ethiopia, and Brazil. It has dovetailed industrial cooperation programs with regional organizations such as the ASEAN, African Union, and CELAC. China has signed third-party market cooperation agreements with France, Italy, Spain, Japan, and Portugal.