Belt and Road Initiative expected to enhance South-South cooperation

Cai Esheng made a speech on a forum held at Tsinghua University in Beijing, July 2, 2017.[Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

The China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative will spur more South countries to find their roads for development, leading to inclusive and balanced growth worldwide, said government officials and scholars from these countries.

"South-South cooperation used to focus on boosting trade, but guided by the Millennium Development Goals set up in 2000, more and more people have realized how to help different countries build their capability to develop and to govern has become a key issue for South-South cooperation, said Cai Esheng, chairman of Hong Kong-based Finance Center for South-South Cooperation at Tsinghua University in Beijing on Sunday.

"Even among South countries, some have emerged like the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa)," said Cai, who is also former vice-chairman of China's Banking Regulatory Commission, adding that these five countries all have found their own way of development.

"China's experience is that it has not copied any other country's development path and has not entirely followed European or US scholars' advice, especially their advice on financial sector, but that it has formed its own model of development, Cai said.