Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke at the opening of the Belt and Road Forum in Beijing. The forum brought together over 1,000 participants. He said that President Xi Jinping informed us about his plans to hold such a representative event back in September at the Russian Chinese summit in Hangzhou. Of course, we supported this initiative immediately. He said that possible concepts for the forum were presented even earlier. Without a doubt, these plans allow for discussion of the huge Eurasian continent’s future in an extended format. Our continent is the home of great civilizations. Peoples of diverse cultures and traditions have lived alongside each other and engaged in trade for centuries. Putin said that the risks of a disrupted global economic and technological space were becoming increasingly obvious. Protectionism is becoming a common practice that manifests itself in unilateral illegitimate restrictions, including how technology is supplied and distributed. The ideas of Openness, freedom of trade are often rejected even by those who supported them so vigorously in the past. I believe Eurasia can work out and propose a constructive and positive agenda on issues relating to security, improving relations between states, economic development, social change, better administration and the search for new forces capable of driving growth” he said adding that for the global community, we must be an example of a collective, innovative and constructive future based on justice, equality and respect for national sovereignty, international law and the unwavering principles of the United Nations. He said that Russia and partners were building the Eurasian Economic Union. The parties of the EAEU have similar views on Eurasian integration and it is very important to us that the leaders of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan are participating in this forum. We welcome China’s One Belt, One Road initiative. By proposing this initiative, President Xi Jinping has demonstrated an example of a creative approach toward fostering integration in energy, infrastructure, transport, industry and humanitarian collaboration, about which I have just talked at length. He said that he believed that by adding together the potential of all the integration formats like the EAEU, the OBOR, the SCO and the ASEAN, we can build the foundation for a larger Eurasian partnership. This is the approach that, we believe, should be applied to the agenda proposed today by the People’s Republic of China.
