Seeking fresh growth under BRI

China has used the third Belt and Road Forum (BRF) organised in Beijing early last week to mark the first 10 years of the launch of its transactional Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) project to tweak and re-energise this multi-trillion-dollar programme for broader global collaboration. The changes in the BRI framework announced at the forum show signs of China’s shifting strategy going forward by addressing whatever concerns China critics and partner countries may have. In his speech titled “Building an Open, Inclusive and Interconnected World For Common Development”, at the opening of the forum, President Xi Jinping pushed to make BRI smarter and greener and move from big-ticket projects to high-tech ones such as digital finance and e-commerce platforms. President Xi outlined expansive plans for the next phase of BRI, a pioneering global undertaking to boost connectivity and trade across the world through infrastructure development with Chinese money and know-how.