“Belt and Road Initiative” brings new opportunities to the development of Armenia

“Belt and Road Initiative” brings new opportunities to the development of Armenia

“Belt and Road Initiative” is China’s top-level design of the opening up and economic diplomacy and China’s scheme on the cooperation development and common prosperity in the new era. Chinese government proposed such a major cooperation initiative to promote peace and cooperation, openness and tolerance, mutual learning and mutual benefits under the “Silk Road” symbol. With respect to the implementation of the “Belt and Road Initiative”, it does not delineate the boundaries by ideology, development path, development model and development level or other standards, but intends for mutual benefit and win-win through exchanges and cooperation in policy, trade, currency, infrastructure, cultural and other aspects in the principles of mutual negotiation and sharing; therefore, it is an open and inclusive cooperation initiative. So, “the Belt and Road Initiative” is a China scheme targeting at the promotion of global cooperation and win-win development.

China’s import and export trade in goods and export value have ranked the top one in the world since 2013, and the year 2015 is not an exception. The value of online retail sales maintained the first place in the world, the total value in retail sales of consumer goods and the import and export volume in service trade stably ranked the second place in the world, foreign investment (US$ 126.27 billion) has ranked the top one among developing countries for 24 consecutive years and the investment abroad (US$ 118.02 billion) ranked the third one in the world.

For two years, this initiative has enjoyed more and more response, attention and hot debates, and even some world famous research institutions began the study on the implementation of “the Belt and Road Initiative”, since they want to figure out the impacts thereof on the global cooperation and development. More than 60 countries have given positive responses recently and some countries carried out strategic docking with China, and put forward specific ideas of cooperation. “The Belt and Road” is not China’s “solo”, but the mixed “chorus” of all countries.

Chinese overseas trade and economic cooperation zones have made positive progress. China has established 75 overseas economic and trade cooperation zones in the world, such as Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Belarus, Thailand, Egypt, Kenya and so on, which has created employment and made contribution to the tax revenue of the host country. According to statistics, various overseas Chinese funded enterprises have paid taxes of more than US$ 100 billion to the country in which they have invested; at the end of 2015, overseas Chinese funded enterprises have nearly employed 900 thousand foreign employees.

Within the framework of “Belt and Road Initiative”, the bilateral relationship between China and Armenia has been strengthened and pragmatic cooperation in the fields of economy and trade has made positive progress in 2015. According to the China Customs, the bilateral trade volume between China and Armenia in 2015 reached US$ 330 million, up by 13.9 percent year on year, among which China’s export to Armenia was US$ 114 million, down by 7.5 percent year on year, while China’s import from Armenia was US$ 217 million, up by 29.5 percent year on year. China has been the second largest trade partner of Armenia since 2009. The main products and goods which China exports to Armenia include: mobile and fixed communications equipment, computers, steel, leather, furs, furniture, etc; and the main products which China imports from Armenia include: copper and copper concentrate, alcohol and diamond products, etc.

In 2015, SINOHYDRO Corporation Limited won the tender of “Lanjik-Gyumri” section of the third tranche of “North-South Road Corridor”. Chinese enterprises have been actively carrying out technical and economic pre-feasibility study on the construction of Armenia-Iran Railway project, as well as coordinating the production of copper, cement and glass with the Armenian side to strengthen the investment cooperation in these fields.

Technical cooperation projects between China and Armenia have made new progress. The public buses and ambulances provided by Chinese government have facilitated daily travels and emergency medical services of Armenian people; the Yerevan Chinese School Project will enter the construction phase soon, which will provide an irreplaceable platform for the Chinese language study and Chinese culture exchanges in Armenia; the Technological Upgrade Project with the Public Television of Armenia is about to be concluded, which provides technical support to Armenia’s transition to HD digital broadcasting; the Armenian Customs Management, Technology and Equipment Modernization Project has been implementing smoothly, which will improve the efficiency of customs clearance and combat smuggling; the Human Resource Training programs have provided opportunities for nearly 200 Armenian participants to attend short-term seminars in China each year.

“Belt and Road Initiative” brings new impetus to deepening pragmatic cooperation between China and Armenia, provides solid foundation for the healthy and rapid development of bilateral friendly cooperative relationship, and promotes the prosperity and development of the global economy.

Հետևեք մեզ նաև Telegram-ում