Peace and Development with the Belt and Road Initiative

09 - 03 - 2018

 

On March 9th, 2018, Tsinghua Ambassador Talks welcomed Mr. Nicholas Rosellini, the United Nations Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in the People’s Republic of China, who delivered an interactive lecture on Tsinghua Campus about the “Peace and Development with the Belt and Road Initiative.” The lecture was followed by a Q&A session.

Mr. Nicholas Rosellini started his presentation by giving an overview of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). He presented the five major pillars of China’s ambitious plan for international collaboration – trade, financial integration, policy coordination, infrastructure connectivity and people-to-people exchanges.

During the engaging talk, Mr. Nicholas Rosellini revealed that 80 bilateral agreements and many multilateral agreements have already been signed in the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative. Moreover, there is an explicit recognition, from the United Nations (UN), that the BRI is in position to contribute to economic growth and development, and is seen as a global public good. Indeed, the BRI can help human development, reduce poverty, and improve incomes for excluded groups from development.

He pointed that the close link between security and development by citing Mr. Kofi Annan, previous Secretary-General of the United Nations “There is no long-term security without development. There is no development without security. And no society can long remain secure, or prosperous, without respect for human rights and the rule of law.” The UN is looking to create a common consensus that the Belt and Road Initiative should be developed in a socially responsible with a keen emphasis on green development.

Finally, Mr. Nicholas Rosellini concluded by expressing the need of a bigger effort worldwide form members stats, deeper corporations, and wilder grassroots suppor in order to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Development. In this sense, the BRI serves as accelerator for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and bring multiple benefits for all the included countries.