新闻纵贯线 Today updated 20:00 2017/05/12（在线收听）

马尔代夫澳大利亚专家团前瞻“一带一路高峰论坛"

Welcome to 'Today' - an hour of world news and analysis -- from a different perspective. I'm Suyi.

Coming up:

Twenty-nine heads of state and government are set to attend the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation this weekend here in Beijing. It is the highest-profile international meeting on the Belt and Road since Chinese President Xi Jinping put forward the initiative in 2013.The theme of the forum is "strengthening international cooperation and co-building the 'Belt and Road' for win-win development".The Belt and Road comprises the land-based Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road.More than 100 countries and international organizations have already joined the initiative, of which more than 40 have signed cooperation agreements with China.The United Nations General Assembly, the UN Security Council and APEC have all incorporated or reflected Belt and Road cooperation in their resolutions and documents.UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres now says the Belt and Road Initiative is a demonstration of new vision that China has brought to global development, which can help address global problems and enhance international cooperation.

For more on this, CRI's Suyi is now joined on the line by Chen Xiaochen, research fellow of Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies, Renmin University of China; Mr. Mohamed Rasheed, Former Maldives Ambassador to China and President of China Maldives Cultural Exchange Association;David Kelly, Research Director of China Policy, a research and strategic advisory based in Beijing, also a visiting professor of sociology at Peking university.