BRI chain a road to integration

Editor's note: As the world's first national-level exhibition focusing on supply chains, the China International Supply Chain Expo will gather industry leaders from around the world and help promote global cooperation in industrial and supply chains, while providing an important platform to explore the advancements in supply chain management and connect with global industry leaders. Four experts share their views with China Daily.

Over the past decade, the Belt and Road Initiative has evolved from an ambitious vision of physical connectivity into a vast and dynamic architecture of global trade and industrial cooperation. In its early years, the initiative was largely defined by infrastructure megaprojects such as railways, ports, highways, and energy corridors that physically linked regions across Asia, Europe, Africa and beyond. Today, the initiative is entering a new phase, where the emphasis is no longer only on where the roads go, but on how those routes enable deeper functional integration among industries, markets and digital systems.

The third China International Supply Chain Expo, to be held from July 16 to 20 in Beijing, offers a timely lens to understand this transition. As China shifts its BRI policy from "building to blending", the expo stands out as a platform for connecting global industry and supply chain enterprises. It is not just a venue for display, but for coordination across increasingly interdependent value chains.