The Second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation (BRF), the most important international conference hosted by China this year, was larger in scale compared to the first one in 2017, attracting more participating countries. It was also more substantive in content and more fruitful in its achievements.

Participants in the Belt and Road Initiative are expanding. More than 5,000 delegates and business representatives from over 150 countries and 90 international organizations participated in the Second BRF. The leaders' roundtable on April 27 was attended by leaders from 38 countries as well as the United Nations and the International Monetary Fund. The representatives came from governments, NGOs, industrial and academic circles, and other walks of life throughout the world.

The Belt and Road Initiative offers opportunities for bilateral and multilateral cooperation, laying a sound foundation for a closer and more extensive partnership. The joint communiqué released by the leaders' roundtable will serve as a guide for future international cooperation.

Deals worth more than $64 billion were signed at the conference of chief executive officers during the Second BRF. Prior to this, 126 countries and 29 international organizations had signed Belt and Road cooperation deals with China. These were followed by more bilateral and multilateral cooperation agreements during the Second BRF. Some developed countries as well as international financial institutions signed cooperation agreements with China to develop third-party markets.

Going ahead with multilateralism and building an open world economy are the only ways to cope with the challenges facing the international community today and realize common prosperity. The Belt and Road Initiative embodies the spirit of multilateralism with its principle of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits. By pursuing mutually beneficial and win-win objectives, it reflects the essence of multilateralism. At the Second BRF, all participants voiced their support for multilateralism and an open world economy.

Though the initiative originated from China, the opportunities emanating from it and its achievements belong to the whole world. The Second BRF was a chance for the participants to learn from the experience gathered through five years of its implementation, map out the future trajectory and build consensus, so as to promote international cooperation to a higher level as well as with better quality.