The sixth International Infrastructure Investment and Construction Forum kicked off here Thursday in Macau.
Over 1,000 representatives from more than 50 countries and regions attended the two-day forum, themed “Regional Economic Integration Spurs New Development of International Infrastructure Cooperation.”
Focuses of the forum include opportunities, challenges and innovative cooperation modes in the field of infrastructure brought by China’s “Belt and Road” initiative and regional economic integration.
Infrastructure interconnection is one of the priority areas in building the “Belt and Road” initiative, said Zhang Xiangchen, deputy international trade representative at China’s Ministry of Commerce in a keynote speech, adding about 60 countries and regions along the ancient trade routes that span Asia, Africa and Europe are interested in participating the construction work.
Cooperation in infrastructure construction has always been a very important part of China’s foreign trade and economic cooperation. China has leading technologies in the fields of railways, electricity, communications, building materials, and construction machinery, with which countries can carry out extensive cooperation in ways of technical cooperation, engineering construction, and so on, he explained.
As the host for the fourth consecutive year, Macau is willing to serve as a platform to promote global infrastructure investment and construction, Lionel Leong Vai Tac, Macau’s secretary for economy and finance, said in the opening address, while expressing his belief that the “Belt and Road” initiative and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank would bring new opportunities to Macau.
Aside from discussing various topics concerning infrastructure investment and construction, the first China-LAC Infrastructure Forum and China-PSC Ministerial Dialogue on Infrastructure Construction would also be held during the forum, offering new platforms for China and CELAC (Community of Latin American and Caribbean States) countries and Portuguese-speaking countries to cooperate in the key sphere of infrastructure construction.
(macaunews/Xinhua)
