By Hamid Mahmood ISLAMABAD, Jan. 26 (INP-WealthPK): The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is a global investment and long-term policy initiative aimed at improving infrastructure and accelerating economic integration among the host nations. The goals of the BRI are to promote connectivity among the Asian, European and African continents, strengthen partnerships among countries, build multidimensional and comprehensive connectivity networks, and expand sovereign, balanced and sustainable development. Well-connected economies are the ones with a high degree of interchange in both inputs and outputs of economic activities. To generate economic benefit for the economies, a three-dimensional connectivity -- country-to-country (C2C), business-to-business (B2B) and people-to-people (P2P) -- is required. The economies that are most engaged in all these three categories of economic connectedness are most likely to gain from the BRI. The first phase of the BRI focuses on C2C, while the second phase is to enhance B2B and P2P connections. Pakistan is also an important participant of the BRI as it is the recipient of the flagship China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which is part of the wider BRI. It is a major Chinese investment portfolio aiming to lay a network of roads and industries across Pakistan. Economists underscored that the future success of the CPEC will be determined by the dynamism of policies aimed at involving both the public and private sectors in promoting the three-way economic connectedness. In order to get proposals and suggestions from the stakeholders on furthering the regional cooperation, the Pakistan-China Institute (PCI) recently organised a nine-nation conference (webinar) on regional economic connectivity titled "Belt and Road Cooperation: Promoting People-to-People Bond." Representatives from "Friends of Silk Road", including Pakistan, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Thailand, as well as think-tanks from Indonesia, the Philippines and China attended the webinar. The participants offered useful proposals for high-quality BRI development. Representatives from the nine countries decided to formalise their cooperation, combat disinformation and fake news, and reject the idea of a "New Cold War." On this occasion, Chairman of the Senate Defence Committee and President of PCI Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed stated that the BRI is helping people through the CPEC. He said that the BRI is a win-win model of cooperation among countries since it is inclusive and aimed at enhancing connectivity. He said that the year 2021 was significant in the history of the Communist Party of China since it was the centennial of the founding of the Party and the year in which China achieved absolute poverty eradication. He also praised China's effective containment of the Covid-19 epidemic and vaccination assistance to other nations, which saved millions of lives. Director of Institute of International Affairs at Renmin University of China Professor Wang Yiwei stated that the post-pandemic age is all about adjusting to the "New Normal". He believes that multilateralism is the only way forward in these difficult times and that the BRI may serve as a model for advancing multilateralism. He also applauded China's zero-carbon strategy, which he believes would aid in the battle against climate change. Pang Chunxue, Deputy Chief of Mission in the Chinese Embassy in Islamabad, said the CPEC is playing an important role in fostering people-to-people activities and reflects the BRI's high-quality growth. With the combined efforts of both the nations, the CPEC has been a huge success and has made a significant contribution to Pakistan's socioeconomic growth and regional connectivity. “No doubt, the BRI is beginning on a new path with a revitalised objective to achieve high-quality development. The concepts of wide consultation, collaborative efforts and shared benefits, the method of open, green and clean collaboration, and the pursuit of high-standard, people-centered and sustainable development all support high-quality BRI collaboration,” she explained. Economists believe that high-quality BRI cooperation will contribute to the shared growth and prosperity of all of its partners by establishing new cooperation platforms and pushing new initiatives.