Deepening Cooperation Under the Belt and Road Initiative in a Bid to Upgrade the Bilateral Relationship
深化“一带一路”合作，打造中国和安巴关系升级版
H.E. Wang Xianmin, Ambassador of China to Antigua and Barbuda
驻安提瓜和巴布达大使王宪民
6 June 2018
2018年6月6日
On June 4th 2018, together with His Honorable Gaston Browne Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda, I have signed the MOU on behalf of the Government of the People’s Republic of China, namely the Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation Within the Framework of the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road Initiative. It marks a milestone in our bilateral relationship, which is worth celebrating.
2018年6月4日，我荣幸地代表中华人民共和国政府同安提瓜和巴布达政府总理贾斯顿·布朗签署《关于共同推进丝绸之路经济带和21世纪海上丝绸之路建设的谅解备忘录》。这是两国关系史上又一个重要里程碑，值得共同庆祝。
In 2013, Chinese President Xi Jinping proposed the building of the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road (also known as the Belt and Road Initiative), which received warm responses from the international community. Upholding the Silk Road spirit of peace and cooperation, openness and inclusiveness, mutual learning and mutual benefit, the Belt and Road Initiative follows the principles of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits. And it focuses on policy coordination, facilities connectivity, unimpeded trade, financial integration and people-to-people bond, with an aim to achieve common development and common prosperity. To date, China has signed cooperation documents on the Belt and Road Initiative with more than 80 countries and international organizations. The total trade volume between China and countries along the route has exceeded 5 trillion U.S. dollars and China has invested more than 70 billion U.S. dollars in relevant countries. Under the present circumstances, the Belt and Road Initiative has become the most welcomed platform of international cooperation and win-win.
中国国家主席习近平于2013年提出共建“丝绸之路经济带”和“21世纪海上丝绸之路”重大倡议，得到国际社会热烈反响。“一带一路”秉承和平合作、开放包容、互学互鉴、互利共赢的丝路精神，以共商共建共享为原则，以政策沟通、设施联通、贸易畅通、资金融通、民心相通为重点，着眼于共同发展和共同繁荣。中国目前已同80多个国家和国际组织签署“一带一路”合作文件，与沿线国家贸易总额超过5万亿美元，对有关国家投资超过700亿美元。当前形势下，“一带一路”已成为最受瞩目的国际合作共赢平台。
As a classic Chinese poem puts it, “Bosom friends make distance disappear”. Antigua and Barbuda was the first Eastern Caribbean country to establish diplomatic ties with China. Today Antigua and Barbuda is also the first in this region to sign the cooperation document on the Belt and Road Initiative, which fully testifies to the ever-refreshed friendship between our two countries and our two peoples. China highly appreciates the visionary decisions made by the leadership of Antigua and Barbuda in promoting its national development and international cooperation. As the largest economy in the Eastern Caribbean, Antigua and Barbuda can be a crucial hub in the natural extension of the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road to Latin America, with great potentials to be tapped. Recent years has witnessed the increasing high-level exchanges, the deepening political mutual trust and the fruitful cooperation in sectors like infrastructure, investment, trade and culture, which has laid the groundwork for the strategic synergy and facilities connectivity between our countries. The MOU has gone further to establish a general framework and a road map for cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative.
相知无远近，万里尚为邻。安巴是东加勒比地区首个同中国建交的国家，今天再次成为该地区首个同中国签署“一带一路”合作文件的国家。这充分展示了两国和两国人民之间的真挚友谊历久弥新。我们高度赞赏安巴领导人在促进国家发展和开展国际合作方面展现出的远见卓识。安巴作为整个东加勒比地区最大经济体，地处“一带一路”向拉美自然延伸的重要枢纽位置，参与“一带一路”合作具有巨大潜力。两国近年高层交往密切，政治互信不断提升，基础设施、投资、经贸、人文等领域合作成果丰硕，为实现发展战略对接和互联互通奠定了坚实基础。本次签署的合作文件则进一步为双方共建“一带一路”确立了总框架和路线图。
The MOU sets objectives and guiding principles of cooperation. The two sides have confirmed their shared intention to explore synergy between our two economies, deepen mutually beneficial cooperation and cultural exchange, and push forward with a regional cooperation framework as being open, inclusive, balanced, and beneficial to all. Guided by the principles of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits, the two sides will respect the core interests and major concerns of each other and abide by their domestic laws and respective international obligations. The two sides will make full use of the existing bilateral mechanisms and multilateral mechanisms that they have both joined to achieve common development and common prosperity.
合作目标和指导原则。双方确认将共同挖掘经济契合点，推动互利合作和文明互鉴，推动建设开放、包容、均衡、普惠的区域合作架构。合作将奉行共商共建共享的原则，尊重彼此核心利益和重大关切，遵循彼此承担的国际法义务和国内法律，充分依靠既有的双边机制及共同参与的多边机制，加强对接，实现共同发展和共同繁荣。
The MOU defines the major areas of Cooperation. The two sides will regularly communicate to streamline their development strategies, promote infrastructure connectivity in areas of mutual interest, such as the building of see ports and telecommunications. The two sides will expand two-way investment and trade flow, and encourage their firms to build industrial parks and economic cooperation zones. The two sides will also encourage their financial institutions to provide financing support, extend the use of their own currency in investment and trade, and foster cooperation between the financial regulators and the banks. The two sides will negotiate agreements on sectors like culture, health and tourism, enhance exchanges between media, think-tanks and the youths, and continue to promote the cooperation in public welfare.
合作重点领域。双方确认就发展战略、规划和政策定期开展对话，推动共同感兴趣的港口、通信等基础设施的互联互通。扩大投资双向开放、贸易双向流动，鼓励两国企业建设产业园区和经贸合作区。鼓励两国金融机构提供投融资支持，扩大本币在投资贸易中的使用，加强金融监管部门和银行业的交流。商签文化、卫生、旅游等领域合作协议，加强媒体、智库和青少年交流，继续开展民生领域合作。
The MOU lays out major modes of cooperation. Through official visits and non-governmental mechanisms, the two sides will encourage participation of people in all sectors of society and carry out pilot programs in key areas, and conduct joint researches and human resource training. The two sides will explore mutually beneficial ways of cooperation to support infrastructural building, production capacity alignment, etc. The two sides will follow market-based principles and promote cooperation between public and private capital. Also the two sides may conclude agreements or other cooperation documents for cooperation in a specific field.
合作主要方式。双方将利用官方互访和民间渠道加强交流，动员社会各界共同参与，开展重点领域试点示范、联合研究、人员培训等活动。采用互利共赢的合作模式支持基础设施和产能对接等重大项目实施，坚持市场化运作原则，推广政府和社会资本合作。对某一特定领域合作，双方将通过缔结专项协议或商签其他合作文件予以实施。
Over the past two years, as the Chinese ambassador, I have reached out to the local people of all fields, and felt the genuine friendship and strong aspirations for greater cooperation with China. Prime Minister Brown repeatedly noted that the relationship between our two countries is at the best in the history and China is on the top of list in Antigua’s external cooperation. Now the Belt and Road initiative, guided by mutual benefit and win-win, has already yields enormous fruits in other regions of the world. And it will certainly help invigorate socio-economic development of Antigua and Barbuda as well as the regional integration. It is believed that the joint efforts in a new era will push China’s friendly cooperation with Antigua and Barbuda and other Latin American countries to a new height.
过去两年来，作为中国驻安巴大使，我同安巴各界广泛深入交流，感受到安巴政府和人民对中国的深厚情义和扩大对华合作的真切愿望。布朗总理多次讲到，两国关系正处于历史上最好时期，中国是安巴开展对外合作的最优先方向。以互利共赢为导向的“一带一路”倡议已经在世界其他地区结出累累硕果，也一定能为安巴经济社会发展和区域一体化进程提供重要助力。我们有理由相信，这次新时代跨越大洋的牵手将把中国同安巴和拉美其他国家的友好合作关系推向崭新高度。