China's trade with Belt and Road countries surpasses $1 trillion in 2015

TASHKENT - China's trade with countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative surpassed $1 trillion in 2015, accounting for a quarter of its total foreign trade, Chinese President Xi Jinping said here Wednesday.

Over 70 countries and international organizations have taken part in the Belt and Road Initiative and some 30 countries have signed cooperation deals with China to jointly push forward the initiative over the past three years, Xi said in an address to the Uzbek Parliament.

Summing up the early harvests of the Belt and Road Initiative, Xi said Chinese enterprises' direct investment in 49 countries along the economic corridor reached nearly $15 billion in 2015, up 18 percent year on year, while those countries' investment in China exceeded $8.2 billion, up 25 percent.

China has inked production capacity cooperation deals with 20 countries and jointly set up 46 overseas economic cooperation zones in 17 Belt and Road countries, with accumulated Chinese investment topping $14 billion and creating 60,000 local jobs.

Meanwhile, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank entered into operation with 57 active participant countries, and the Silk Road Fund and the China-Eurasia Economic Cooperation Fund were also established.

The Belt and Road Initiative's primary planning and deployment has completed and is now stepping into the stage of taking roots and intensive cultivation for sustained development, Xi said.

The Chinese president is in Uzbekistan for a state visit. He will also attend the 16th summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization on June 23-24.