BRI promotes green development

Not long after China proposed the Belt and Road Initiative in 2013, our team (from the Belt and Road School of Beijing Normal University) conducted a study on the development levels of the countries along the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, which showed that among the 65 countries (including China) surveyed, the ones least developed in 2014－Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, Iraq and Palestine－faced political turmoil for a long time.

On the other hand, the countries with the highest development levels－Singapore, China, Malaysia, Estonia and Latvia－enjoyed a stable political situation and good governance.

From 2015 to 2019, we carried out another study of the 149 countries (including China) involved in the Belt and Road Initiative. Even this study showed that the least-developed countries, Somalia, Yemen, Syria, Afghanistan, South Sudan, Libya, Eritrea and Iraq, were facing political challenges, while those with the highest development levels－Singapore, New Zealand, China, the Republic of Korea, Austria and the Czech Republic－were politically and socially stable.