SILK ROAD PLAN FOR GLOBAL TRADE

President Xi Jinping has outlined an ambitious project to regenerate global growth. His government has pledged a massive $124 billion to bolster global trade along the old Silk Road route. President Xi spoke about the initiative on Sunday at a summit attended by leaders from 29 countries, as well as the heads of the United Nations, International Monetary Fund and World Bank. The President stated that the new initiative aimed to expand trading links between Asia, Africa, Europe and beyond. He said the project would invest billions of dollars in infrastructure to help facilitate the free flow of goods. He told attendees at the summit that: "Trade is the important engine of economic development."

President Xi said increased global trade would make the world more peaceful. He said: "We should build an open platform of cooperation, and uphold and grow an open world economy….We will not re-tread the old path of games between foes. Instead we will create a new model of cooperation and mutual benefit." Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was impressed with President Xi's "vision and ingenuity". He said: "Such a broad sweep and scale of interlocking economic partnerships and investments is unprecedented in history. We stand at the cusp of a geo-economic revolution." Europe's finance minister told the summit this continent was a "natural partner" of the project.