Beijing forum should spur development

Workers walk through a room being prepared for observers in the China National Convention Center, the venue for the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, in Beijing on May 13, 2017. PHOTO | GREG BAKER | AFP

What you need to know:

  • The Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation will bring together ministerial delegations and representatives from 57 countries.
  • Organisers said it would explore cooperation and ways of addressing problems facing global and regional economies while providing fresh energy for pursuing interconnected development.

A summit that opens in Beijing, China on Sunday is expected to bring together at least 29 heads of state and government, including Kenya’s Uhuru Kenyatta.

The two-day Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation has been in the cards for months and is described by Chinese officials as one of 2017’s major global events.

The forum will also bring together ministerial delegations and representatives from 57 countries.

Also expected to attend are international organisations, former heads of state and government, business leaders, experts and scholars.

Organisers said the forum would explore cooperation and ways of addressing problems facing global and regional economies while providing fresh energy for pursuing interconnected development.

In this way, the organisers say, the summit will deliver greater benefits to countries, as envisioned by the man behind the concept, President Xi Jinping.

Among those attending will, hopefully, be UN officials and heads of top institutions like World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

While the UN will be represented by secretary general Antonio Guterres, the World Bank delegation will be headed by its president Jim Yong Kim. IMF’s will be led by managing director Christine Lagarde.

About 130 countries are expected to be represented at the forum, which will be attended by 1,200 people, according to Chinese media.

During tomorrow’s leaders roundtable the highlight of the summit participants will focus on policy synergy for closer partnership and cooperation for interconnected development.

The forum is dedicated to President Xi’s signature foreign policy project, which he announced during the annual World Economic Forum in Davos on January 17.

According to the organisers, tomorrow’s roundtable will be the highest-level forum under the initiative since its launch more than three years ago.

The Chinese say the programme is rooted in the spirit of peace, cooperation, openness, inclusivity, mutual learning and benefit.

At a time when global cooperation is winning acclaim in African countries, it can only be hoped that the Beijing forum will spur development on the continent.