Among the distinguished guests were the Party General Secretary and President of Laos, Presidents of Russia, Indonesia, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Mongolia, Sri Lanka, and Congo. The Secretary General of the United Nations, the President of the New Development Bank, and the President of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) also attended the ceremony.

BRF 2023 which is getting underway in Beijing on October 18-19 has brought together more than 4,000 delegates from 140 countries and territories and 30 internaiotnal organisations.

Themed ‘High-quality Belt and Road Cooperation: Together for Common Development and Prosperity’ the forum includes three high-level panel discussions on connectivity, green development, and digital economy, alongside six seminars. A conference of entrepreneurs is also scheduled to be held on the sidelines.

President Vo Van Thuong is scheduled to deliver a keynote speech at the gathering to affirm Vietnam’s desire to promote peace, cooperation, economic integration and regional connectivity, and to deepen relations with other countries in the world.

China launched the multi-trillion-dollar transnational Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in 2013. As of 2022 it had signed 206 cooperation agreements with 151 countries and territories and 32 international organisations, and undertaken approximately 3,000 projects worth nearly US$1 trillion.

In 2017, Vietnam and China signed a Government-level memorandum of understanding on promoting connection between the ‘Two Corridors, One Belt’ framework and the ‘Belt and Road’ initiative. The two sides are discussing ways to concretize this document.

Source: VOV