China's BRI injects vitality into millennia-old Silk Road: Cambodian senior minister

PHNOM PENH, Nov. 26 (Xinhua) -- China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has injected fresh vitality into the millennia-old Silk Road with its all-encompassing scope, covering land and seas, airspace and cyberspace, a Cambodian senior minister said here on Tuesday.

"It has boosted the flow of goods, services, capital, technologies and human resources among countries involved," Sok Siphana, a senior minister in charge of special missions of multilateral trade and economic affairs, said at the Global Chinese Economic and Technology (GCET) Summit 2024 in Phnom Penh.

Siphana added that its global network of connectivity consists of economic corridors, international transportation routes and highways as well as railways, roads, airports, ports, pipelines and power grids.

"The benefits of the BRI can certainly be felt in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and in Cambodia," he said.

As outlined in the ASEAN-China Joint Statement on Synergizing the Master Plan on ASEAN Connectivity (MPAC) 2025 and the BRI, ASEAN nations have advanced major high-quality infrastructure projects to enhance their supply chain connectivity and resilience, while also exploring the development of new economic corridors and industrial zones, he added.

Siphana said for Cambodia, the BRI was instrumental in seeing many big infrastructure projects becoming a reality, such as the Phnom Penh-Sihanoukville Expressway, the new Siem Reap Angkor International Airport, and the Sihanoukville Special Economy Zone, which have tremendously improved the country's competitiveness.

"The BRI has also served as a catalyst for the creation of thousands of jobs, a vast exchange of knowledge and know-how, spurring of entrepreneurship, especially in e-commerce, as well as technological advancements in many industries, like electric vehicles, tire manufacturing and electronics," he said.

"These BRI projects will contribute to a great extent to support Cambodia's long-term objectives of attaining the upper-middle-income status by 2030 and high-income status by 2050," he added.