FROM EIR DAILY ALERT

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UN Official Lauds Belt and Road as ‘Grand Design for the Future’

May 29, 2018 (EIRNS)—UN Under-Secretary Shamshad Akhtar, speaking to China Daily May 28, praised the Belt and Road Initiative of infrastructure great projects as “an initiative on a more integrated frame, [and] of a scale, that no one has talked about before.” Akhtar is executive secretary of the UN’s Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific.

“China leads the regional cooperation and the integration of Asia, with its Belt and Road Initiative strengthening intra-and intercontinental ties,”

she told China Daily, on the sidelines of the Shanghai Forum at Fudan University.

“It’s a grand design. Moving the Belt and Road Initiative forward not only connects Asia internally, but bridges it closer to Europe and Africa.”

She said,

“Over the years, China’s shift from quietly forging bilateral relationships, to building multilateral and broad-based diplomatic structure has underscored its commitment to deepening its footprint in regional cooperation and integration.”