Chinese President Xi Jinping sends a congratulatory letter to the first council meeting of the Belt and Road News Network (BRNN), which is being hosted in Beijing on Tuesday. 

Belt and Road News Network council members meet in Beijing for their first meeting, April 23, 2019. (Photo: People’s Daily app)

Xi, also the general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, stressed in the letter that even though the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) was proposed by China, the opportunities and outcomes from it are shared with the world. 

The BRI countries need to advocate peace and cooperation, openness and inclusiveness, mutual learning and mutual benefit, and strive to build the initiative into a road heading to peace, prosperity, openness, green development, innovation and civilization, Xi said in the letter.

It’s exciting to see the media’s active and constructive role in weaving a network of BRI partners and BRNN offers a convenient platform for communication and cooperation among the media, Xi said. 

Xi also said he hopes to see all council members enhance their engagement and work more to facilitate policy consultation, trade promotion, infrastructure connectivity, financial cooperation and people-to-people exchanges. 

The council members are expected to tell the stories about the BRI in a way that could shape sound public opinion and promote the initiative to yield more substantial results for the people living in the countries along the Belt and Road, Xi said.