Two thousand years ago, the people of Eurasia explored and opened up several routes of trade that linked Asia, Europe and Africa, collectively called the Silk Road by later generations.
For thousands of years, the Silk Road Spirit featuring peace and cooperation, openness and inclusiveness, mutual learning and mutual benefit has been passed from generation to generation, promoted the progress of human civilisation, and contributed greatly to the prosperity and development of the countries along the Silk Road.
Ten years ago, Chinese President Xi Jinping proposed the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Over the past decade, China is actively engaged in multilateral cooperation to share development opportunities with countries along the Belt and Road, and has helped to boost local economy, improve local livelihoods, and achieve sustainable progress. The BRI has become a platform for international cooperation that is open, inclusive, sustainable, innovation-driven and promotes win-win cooperation.
With a commitment to the principles of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits, the BRI focusses on promoting policy, infrastructure, trade, financial and people-to-people connectivity, and helping align and coordinate the development strategies of the countries along the Belt and Road.
Defending the purposes and principles of the UN Charter and other basic norms governing international relations, the BRI is not an exclusive club that is closed to non-participating countries and economies, targeted against anyone, nor attaching political strings to countries participated in it. The BRI is an open and inclusive platform for cooperation and delivering tangible benefits and opportunities to all countries.
To date, China has signed more than 200 BRI cooperation documents with over 150 countries and 30 international organisations.
The BRI has established more than 3000 cooperation projects and galvanised nearly US$1 trillion of investment, created over 420 thousand jobs, and lifted 40 million people out of poverty.
According to Belt and Road Economics, a report released by the World Bank, the BRI will increase intra-BRI trade by 4.1 per cent. By 2030, the BRI will generate US$1.6 trillion in annual global revenues.
Green development
China is dedicated to the green development of the BRI. China will scale up its NDCs by adopting more vigorous policies and measures, strive to peak CO2 emissions before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060.
As the largest clean energy consumer and equipment producer, China has generated more than 70 per cent of global solar PV power and over 60 per cent of wind power, contributing to the realisation of the UN 2030 Sustainable Goals.
China’s investment in clean energy production has far outpaced that in traditional ones in the BRI countries, helping greatly reduce global renewable energy costs.
Win-win co-operation
The BRI originates in China, but the opportunities and achievements it creates belong to the whole world. The BRI initiative links up China’s development with the development of other countries along the routes.
Major projects like China Railway Express (China-Europe Freight Trans), Hungary-Serbia Railway, Peljesac Bridge in Croatia, Piraeus Port in Greece, etc, have already delivered tangible benefits to local people.
The Belt and Road connects the vibrant East Asian economies at one end and the developed European economies at the other, covering the largest population and major markets in the world.
Ireland, EU and the BRI
European countries are important participants in building the Belt and Road, and also crucial forces in connecting global production capacity and markets.
In 2022, China-EU bilateral trade reached US$84.73 trillion, marking a 2.4 per cent year-on-year increase. In another word, every single minute, more than US$1.6 million worth of goods and services have been traded between the two sides.
Over the past decade, more than 77,000 trips were made by freight trains between China and Europe, carrying 7.31 million TEUs of freight worth US$340 billion.
Its service has reached 217 cities in 25 European countries and provided an important network connecting global trade and economies.
Lifting all participants’ connectivity to a high level, the BRI has facilitated the flow of goods, capital and people, and has laid a solid foundation for trade facilitation. Countries participating in the BRI will get more effectively integrated into global industrial, supply and value chains, and their potential will be fully unleashed.
The BRI initiative is a broad path that can be joined by all interested countries to work together for shared benefits. In 2017, Ireland became a member of Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank.
Since then, Ireland has played a constructive role in improving infrastructure in Asian countries, and has created broader development space for this country to strengthen its trade and economic ties with China and other Asian countries.
Reaching a record high of €120 billion, Ireland has smashed its target of hitting €100 billion worth of trade with Asia by 2025, two years ahead of schedule. Looking forward, the BRI could serve as a new stage for China-Ireland cooperation in the following areas:
Coordinating policies to address common challenges
China is advancing the development of a green Silk Road, while Ireland has also set out a road map for systemic change to reduce overall greenhouse gas emissions by 51 per cent by 2030.
China and Ireland are both responsible countries in tackling climate change. With joint efforts on the BRI platform to address issues like climate change, ocean and Arctic environmental protection and renewable energy utilisation, China and Ireland may advance sustainable development in the future.
Promoting connectivity of infrastructure and facilities
With a rapidly rising population, the Irish government has launched Project Ireland 2040 to invest in infrastructure for all Irish people to flourish.
At the same time, China's infrastructure construction has made remarkable achievements, building the world's largest high-speed railway network, expressway network, and world-class port group.
With the support of the BRI and AIIB and Silk Road Fund, China and Ireland can work together to build a more connected network of airlines, maritime routes, telecommunications, and so on.
Enhancing trade and economic ties
As the second-largest importer of goods and services, the largest manufacturing country and the largest commodity trading nation, China is also Ireland's largest trading partner in the Asia-Pacific.
The two countries are of complementary economic structure, and could leverage their respective strengths in economic cooperation within the framework of BRI.
Deepening financial cooperation
Ireland's resilient economy has made it one of the best performing economies in the world. Its financial strengths and favourable tax policy have made it one of the leading financial service centres in Europe.
The BRI’s rapid development has created great demands for high quality capital and funds. Looking ahead, financial cooperation under the framework of BRI, as an important new growth point for China-Ireland business cooperation, will unleash its huge potential and embrace a promising future.
Bringing closer people-to-people ties
Nowadays, nearly 50,000 Chinese are studying, working and living in Ireland.
The number of Irish people who go to China for work and study is increasing year after year. There are seven twinning relations between Chinese and Irish cities and friendly exchanges and cooperation between both local governments have become more active.
These have all made significant contributions to the mutual understanding between our two peoples. The BRI could provide more opportunities for cultural exchanges in various fields.
The Silk Road Scholarship Program could expand the scale of exchanged students between the two countries, which will provide a new way for Irish people to get to know China.
For more information on the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China, check out the website or the official Twitter page.
