The Belt and Road Initiative has huge potential to bring prosperity to millions by building infrastructure in areas of the world where it is most needed, a UK official said after attending the Second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in Beijing.
Catherine McGuinness, chair of the policy and resources committee at the City of London Corporation, was very impressed by Chinese President Xi Jinping's speech on the crucial need for financial and environmental sustainability.
McGuinness wished to learn more on how the Green Belt and Road Investment Principles, developed in part by the City of London Corporation's Green Finance Initiative, can play a part in this journey for win-win cooperation.
She spoke highly of the achievements Chinese government has made in developing BRI from a concept on the drawing board to the reality of roads, rail tracks and ports since it was proposed in 2013.
McGuinness identified a great number of opportunities brought by the BRI, which by some estimates could be worth 1.8 billion pounds ($2.33 billion) annually to the British economy.
As a financial hub for international infrastructure investment, British firms and international companies based in the UK stand ready to provide many of the services required along the Belt and Road, especially as it becomes more of a shared venture, she said.
They can also provide private financing required by the project and support through green finance, consultancy, rule of law and foreign exchange, McGuinness added.
Seventy years after the founding of the People's Republic of China, ties between China and UK have gone from strength to strength, with bilateral trade now worth nearly 70 billion pounds, McGuinness said.
"I look forward to celebrating this long, fruitful relationship with our Chinese counterparts, and to marking the next chapter of our partnership in the Belt and Road," she added.
China and the UK's trade in goods volume increased by 12 percent and reached $82.10 billion in 2018, according to a report by China's Ministry of Commerce.
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