The financial cooperation mechanism of the “Belt and Road” continues to improve

Recently, the 2024 Financial Street Forum Annual Meeting "Belt and Road" Financial Cooperation: Opportunities, Challenges and Prospects Parallel Forum was held. The guests at the meeting believed that all countries and regions need to work together to continuously improve the quality and efficiency of regional financial cooperation.

Zhou Liang, deputy director of the State Administration of Financial Supervision and Administration, said that after more than 10 years of development, the "Belt and Road" cooperation has entered the "fine brushwork" stage from the "freehand" stage, and policy communication, infrastructure connectivity, unimpeded trade, financial integration, and people-to-people exchanges have progressed in parallel, achieving significant results.

In recent years, with the further deepening of co-construction, the "Belt and Road" financial cooperation has also faced challenges such as how to improve effectiveness, reflect differentiation, and ensure security. Zhou Liang introduced that the Financial Supervision Administration will improve the "Belt and Road" financial cooperation mechanism, innovate cooperation models, improve the quality and efficiency of cooperation, and provide strong support and guarantee for the co-construction of the "Belt and Road".

In terms of enhancing financial service functions, the Financial Supervision Administration proposed that with the deepening of international capacity cooperation in the co-construction of the "Belt and Road", financial institutions are encouraged to develop cross-border businesses such as supply chain finance, syndicated loans, and cross-border mergers and acquisitions to ensure the stability and smoothness of the industrial chain supply chain. Innovate investment and financing models to help technological innovation, industrial upgrading and the development of new productivity. Optimize financial support for digital economy, green and low-carbon development, and help economic transformation and high-quality development.

The joint construction of the "Belt and Road" involves many developing countries and emerging economies, and requires countries to increase policy coordination and build an open, inclusive and multi-level investment and financing platform. The Financial Regulatory Bureau proposed to strengthen the adaptation of financial products, use new technologies to accelerate the digital transformation of finance, guide funds to key areas and weak links, and provide business entities with widely available, flexible, diverse and adaptable financial support.

The joint construction of the "Belt and Road" infrastructure projects has large investments and long cycles. It is necessary to enrich financial products and services, promote the diversification of investment and financing entities according to the characteristics of the projects, and strengthen financial supply capabilities. Focus on giving full play to the role of financial institutions, encourage private capital to actively participate, make good use of various financial instruments such as credit, bonds, funds, and equity, and gradually build a financial service network with multi-party participation and complementary advantages.

Asia is one of the most dynamic and resilient regions for economic development along the "Belt and Road". Wang Zhiheng, representative of the chairman unit of the Asian Financial Cooperation Association and president of the Agricultural Bank of China, believes that under the support of the "Belt and Road" initiative, technology finance, green finance, inclusive finance, pension finance, and digital finance will develop synchronously, interact and integrate, and support each other, continuously injecting new elements and new vitality into Asia's development, shaping new advantages and new momentum, and opening up new fields and new tracks. (Reporter Zhao Dongyu)