Xi says more nations joining Belt and Road, $64bn in deals

AFP, 27 April 2019

China's President Xi Jinping leaves after a press conference at the end of the

 final day of the Belt and Road Forum at the China National Convention Centere 

at the Yanqi Lake venue outside Beijing on April 27, 2019. PHOTO | 

WANG ZHAO | POOL | AFP

Chinese President Xi Jinping said Saturday $64 billion in deals were signed at a summit on his Belt and Road Initiative and more nations would join the global infrastructure programme as he sought to ease concerns over the colossal project.

Xi and 37 world leaders wrapped up a three-day forum in Beijing with pledges to ensure that projects on the new Silk Road are green and financially sustainable following concerns about debt and environmental damage.

"We are committed to supporting open, clean and green development and rejecting protectionism," Xi told journalists at the end of the forum, without taking questions.

His signature foreign policy aims to reinvent the ancient Silk Road to connect Asia to Europe and Africa through massive investments in maritime, road and rail projects -- with hundreds of billions of dollars in financing from Chinese banks.

But critics say the six-year-old project is a plan to boost Beijing's global influence, riddled with opaque deals favouring Chinese companies and saddling nations with debt and environmental damage.

The US, India and some European nations have looked at the project with suspicion. Washington did not send any representatives to the meeting.

"This year's forum sends a clear message: more and more friends and partners will join in the Belt and Road co-operation," Xi said.

A document released after the meeting showed that Equatorial Guinea, Liberia, Luxembourg, Jamaica, Peru, Italy, Barbados, Cyprus and Yemen were the latest countries to join the club.

Xi said enterprises will be the main driver in all Belt and Road projects and market principles will apply, with governments providing a supporting role.

"This will make the projects more sustainable and create a fair and non-discriminatory environment for foreign investors," Xi said.

Xi said that business leaders meeting at a side event signed some $64 billion worth of deals during the forum, without providing details.

At the picturesque Yanqi Lake outside Beijing, leaders from Europe, Africa, Asia and Latin America gathered to issue a joint communique.

The gathering included Russian President Vladimir Putin, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, whose nation became the first G7 member to join Belt and Road, and Pakistan's Imran Khan.

Project 'sustainability

The massive projects, financed mainly through Chinese bank loans and investments, have raised concerns that poorer countries are being saddled with debt -- Sri Lanka turned over a deep-sea port to China for 99 years after it was unable to repay loans.

A communique released at the end of the meeting said leaders encouraged multilateral development banks and other international financial institutions to support projects "in fiscally sustainable ways" and mobilise private capital in line with local needs.

"We emphasise the importance of economic, social, fiscal, financial and environmental sustainability of projects," it said.

The draft communique says BRI will welcome developed countries and international investors to participate in the projects.

"Faced with this rising resistance for the past year and a half and this debt image ... China is trying to reposition (BRI) and send a reassuring message," said Nadege Rolland, a senior fellow at the National Bureau of Asian Research, a US-based think tank.

But "let's see how it is put into practice", she said.

China's finance ministry released guidelines Thursday for assessing financial risk and debt sustainability to apply to projects in BRI countries.

But the document notes that countries already facing payment problems or in the process of restructuring payments "does not automatically mean that debt is unsustainable in a forward-looking sense".

'Civilised and soft'

Beijing also published a list Saturday of 283 "deliverables" that bore the Belt and Road brand name, including agreements between museums and art festivals, and even cooperation on space -- a clear sign that BRI is a major soft power tool for China as well.

Russian President Vladimir Putin praised China for acting in a "civilised and soft manner" and he took a veiled swipe at the United States.

"Nobody wants sanctions, nobody wants trade wars, except those who start them. These sanctions harm the world economy," Putin said, adding that China "currently defends liberal values".

BRI projects have faced pushback in some countries. In Malaysia, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad cancelled some planned works and renegotiated a rail project, cutting 30 percent off the price tag.

But Mahathir and other leaders attending the summit had fulsome praise for BRI.

Japan PM pledges to invest $30 bn in Africa by 2018

Yahoo – AFP, August 27, 2016

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe speaks during a session with Kenya's Ministry
 of Health and World Bank group at the Tokyo International Conference on African
Development (TICAD) in Nairobi on August 26, 2016 (AFP Photo/Simon Maina)

Japan will pour $30 billion (27 billion euros) in investment into Africa by 2018, including $10 billion in infrastructure development, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Saturday at a summit in Nairobi.

"When combined with the investment from the private sector I expect the total real amount to be $30 billion," Abe said at the opening of the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD).

"This is an investment that has faith in Africa's future," he said.

Abe will use the conference to meet dozens of leaders from across Africa, among them Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta and South Africa's Jacob Zuma.

It is the first time that the TICAD conference is being held in Africa, with all five previous events hosted in Japan.

The goal of the conference is to boost trade and aid to Africa, as Japan hopes that quality will trump quantity in the battle for influence against cash-rich China.

While Tokyo already has a well-established presence in Africa, its financial importance to the continent has long since been eclipsed by regional rival China.

The world's second-largest economy -- a resource-hungry giant -- recorded total trade with Africa of about $179 billion in 2015, dwarfing Japan's approximately $24 billion.

President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya visits the Mombasa Nairobi Railway built
by China Communications Construction on Jan. 24, 2014. (Photo/Xinhua)

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Obama competing with China to secure African support

"The End of History"- Nov 20, 2010 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) - (Text-Version)

" .... Africa

Let me tell you where else it's happening that you are unaware - that which is the beginning of the unity of the African states. Soon the continent will have what they never had before, and when that continent is healed and there is no AIDS and no major disease, they're going to want what you have. They're going to want houses and schools and an economy that works without corruption. They will be done with small-minded leaders who kill their populations for power in what has been called for generations "The History of Africa." Soon it will be the end of history in Africa, and a new continent will emerge.

Be aware that the strength may not come from the expected areas, for new leadership is brewing. There is so much land there and the population is so ready there, it will be one of the strongest economies on the planet within two generations plus 20 years. And it's going to happen because of a unifying idea put together by a few. These are the potentials of the planet, and the end of history as you know it.

In approximately 70 years, there will be a black man who leads this African continent into affluence and peace. He won't be a president, but rather a planner and a revolutionary economic thinker. He, and a strong woman with him, will implement the plan continent-wide. They will unite. This is the potential and this is the plan. Africa will arise out the ashes of centuries of disease and despair and create a viable economic force with workers who can create good products for the day. You think China is economically strong? China must do what it does, hobbled by the secrecy and bias of the old ways of its own history. As large as it is, it will have to eventually compete with Africa, a land of free thinkers and fast change. China will have a major competitor, one that doesn't have any cultural barriers to the advancement of the free Human spirit.. ...."

President Xi outlines position on 13th five-year plan

Want China Times, Xinhua 2015-05-29

Xi Jinping inspects an art center in a village in Hangzhou, Zhejiang,
May 27. (File photo/Xinhua)

Chinese president Xi Jinping said on Wednesday that the 13th five-year plan period (2016-2020) will be crucial, and governments at all levels should foresee the major trends and plan economic and social development well.

Xi made the remarks when meeting with leading officials from seven regions in eastern China: Shanghai, Anhui, Fujian, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Shandong and Zhejiang.

This is the last year of the 12th Five-year Plan and the central government is currently considering policy for the 13th plan.

The world economic climate is still complicated with interwoven opportunities and challenges, while both the times and the trends are favorable for China, there are still key strategic opportunities for China's development, Xi said.

China's development prospects are broad, but the country is facing many difficulties and challenges, as well as a tough restructuring of the economy, transformation of growth modes and the need to boost innovation, he said.

While mapping the 13th five-year plan period, governments should face risks and challenges soberly, with better evaluation of difficulties and complexities, the president said.

During the period, breakthroughs should maintain economic growth, transform the growth mode, optimize industrial structure, promote innovation, step up agricultural modernization, reform institutional mechanisms, boost coordinated growth, strengthen ecological progress, safeguard people's living quality and improve support for the poor, Xi said.

With the changing growth mode and improving quality and efficiency at the center, the economy will be driven by consumption, investment and exports instead of only by investment and exports. China will shift from relying on secondary industries alone to reliance on the primary, secondary and tertiary industries, turning away from resource consumption and toward technological progress through innovation, he said.

Industrial structure is key to economic competitiveness. Traditional sectors should be transformed efficiently. Informatization and industrialization should be integrated, he said.

Among industrialization, informatization, urbanization and agricultural modernization, the weakest link is agriculture. More needs to be done to transform agricultural development and speed up agricultural technology innovation, Xi said.

Reform is the ultimate power to cultivate and release market energy and boost sustainable and healthy growth of the economy and society, he said.

Coordinated regional growth and green development must be carried out fully. People's quality of life is the be-all and end-all of economic growth and more should be done to tackle problems in education, employment, incomes, social security, health care and food safety, the president said.

Xi was on an inspection tour from Monday to Wednesday in Zhejiang, where he was party chief from 2002 to 2007.

Belt and Road key to future of Africa-Asia cooperation

Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2015-04-26

Xi Jinping delivers a speech at the Asian-African Summit 2015 in Jakarta,
April 22. (Photo/Xinhua)

At the Asian-African Summit or Bandung Conference 2015 held in Jakarta, Indonesia, President Xi Jinping of China delivered a speech calling for win-win cooperation between Asian and African counties. China still has an important advantage in its huge labor-intensive industry to help Africa's developing counties develop their economies, China Securities Journal reports.

Xi said China will push for cooperation between Asian and African nations, pledging to give zero tariff treatment to 97% of categories to most developing nations which have diplomatic ties with China and will continue to offer subsidies to developing counties without any political conditions. China hopes all countries in the region can work together to on its New Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st Century Maritime Silk Road (Belt and Road) initiatives and join the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), pushing for joint maintenance of regional and world peace and stability.

In 1955, representatives from 29 Asian and African countries and regions gathered in Bandung to discuss independence, peace and economic prosperity. The Bandung Conference opened a new chapter in the developing countries' struggle for national independence, economic development, social progress and a more balanced international order.

Beijing's Belt and Road initiative will explore the deeper-level cooperation potential and expand cooperation room among related countries along the routes. For developing countries, insufficient funding for infrastructure is one of the most difficult problems. The AIIB aims to make up this shortfall. So far, the AIIB has attracted 57 nations to be its founding members.

The Belt and Road will involve territory occupied by around 4.4 billion people, accounting for 63% of the world's population, with total economic output of about US$2.2 trillion, representing 30% of the world's total. The nations along the routes are mostly new and emerging economies. The Belt and Road will build on existing foundations to push for more complementary cooperation to expand regional cooperation.

China and Pakistan have jointly promoted the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor as one of the important projects in building the Belt and Road, triggering rising investments.

Due to rising worker salaries, China has gradually lost its advantage in labor costs, with a large volume of labor-industries destined to gradually move out of the nation. While Africa, which has a population of over one billion, will be the only place in the world that can receive China's huge labor-intensive industry, especially as the average per capita salary in African countries is only about one-fifth to one-tenth of China's.

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"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems  (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it),  Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse),  Illuminati (Started in Greece, with Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) - (Text version) 

“… The Future of the Illuminati

Now, I want to tell you something that you didn't expect and something I've reported only one other time. What about all of the money that the Illuminati has? There are trillions and trillions of euro in banks, under their control, waiting. What are they going to do with it and where are they going to use it? It's still here. They're waiting.

This group is waiting for something to happen that they know is going to happen, for they see it coming as much as I do. However, I would like to tell you something that they don't expect. With awareness comes generational shift. Those in charge of this money will not always be elders. The indigos eventually will have it.

They are waiting for something to happen in Africa - the building of a new civilization, a continent that has nothing to unlearn. Once Africa is cured, once it's ready, a new civilization can be created from the ground up. Africans will be ready to learn everything about building a foundation for the most advanced civilization ever and will do it with the most modern and inventive systems available. Eventually, this new continent will even beat the economics of China.

This is the prediction and always has been, and the Illuminati's money will fund it. Did I say the Illuminati will fund it? [Kryon laugh] The Illuminati's money will fund it, but there is a difference from the past, dear ones. The ones who inherit the positions in the Illuminati will be a different consciousness. Listen, they are not suddenly going to be the ones who have the good of everyone in their hearts - hardly. They want to make money, but what they will see instead is a way to make a great deal of money through this investment. In the process, it will automatically help hundreds of thousands, and they will be at the beginning, the foundation, that builds the new Africa. The new African states of unification eventually will create a continent stronger than any of the others, and it will have one currency. The resources alone will dwarf anything in the world. ...”

India counters Xi's 'belt and road' with competing project

Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2015-03-01

Xi Jinping and Narendra Modi meet in New Delhi on Sept. 18,
2014. (Photo/Xinhua)

Chinese president Xi Jinping's "belt and road" initiative to link China with with Europe through Central and Western Asia and to connect with Southeast Asian countries will be met with staunch challenges from India's own competing proposal, reports our Chinese-language sister paper Want Daily.

Xi's ambitious strategic plan, announced last year, comprises the Silk Road Economic Belt, a land-based belt from China via Central Asia and Russia to Europe, and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, a maritime route through the Strait of Malacca to India, the Middle East and East Africa.

Pang Zhongying, an international relations professor at the Renmin University of China in Beijing, says while Xi has personally invited Indian prime minister Narendra Modi to join the belt and road initiative, New Delhi has never expressed a clear indication of support.

Instead, India will soon be launching its own Project Mausam, a transnational initiative meant to revive its ancient maritime routes and cultural linkages with countries in the region.

Mausam is a "threatening and competing" initiative will pose a major challenge for China's belt and road plans, Pang said, noting that the project intends to stretch from East Africa, the Arabian peninsula, the Indian subcontinent and Sri Lanka to the Southeast Asian archipelago — all the regions forming the extent of India's cultural influence.

As the primary "organizer" of security and trade in the Indian Ocean, New Delhi has a central and unique role in the region, Pang said, adding that the competing initiatives could turn into a major tussle between the world's two biggest rising powers.

India's economic influence has also been growing, with reports that its national GDP for the upcoming financial year will outdo China and soar to a four-year high of 8.5%.

The Economist even described the competitive dynamics between China and India as akin to the tale of the hare and the tortoise, adding that India's economic prowess could very well eclipse that of China's in the near future.

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The dialogue meeting at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse, Nov. 8. 

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China to allocate more foreign aid for Silk Road countries

Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2014-12-14

China's assistant commerce minister Zhang Xiangchen at a press conference
in Beijing, Dec. 8. (Photo/CNS)

China plans to spend more foreign aid to fund projects in countries covered by its Silk Road economic belt and maritime Silk Road, according to officials from the Chinese Ministry of Commerce.

"The new aid fund will be prioritized for countries along and around the One Belt and One Road," said Yu Zirong, deputy director-general of the foreign aid department at the ministry, during a Dec. 8 news conference.

According to Yu, the ministry will fully push for the foreign aid projects as a mean to drive the country's One Belt and One Road strategies.

The ministry said it will plan a series of infrastructure projects, including highways, ports, rail links, and energy and telecommunication networks, to improve connectivity between China and its neighbors.

In the past, China's foreign aid fund was divided equally for Africa and the One Belt and One Road countries, Yu said. "Under the new conditions, the scale of China's foreign aid will undoubtedly expand further," assistant minister of Commerce Zhang Xiangchen said, noting several neighboring countries that receive Chinese aid having proposed projects in response to China's new Silk Road plan.

Zhang also highlighted the changes recently introduced in the management of foreign aid projects, which will focus more on policy research and evaluation to enhance planning for the long term.

China has also begun working with aid receiving countries, so they can carry out the projects themselves, Zhang said.

China's President Xi touts 'Asia-Pacific dream' ahead of APEC summit

Chinese President Xi has told a gathering of business leaders that his country's economy offers "lasting and infinite promise." Beijing is using its APEC host status to assert its ambitions as a leader in the region.

Deutsche Welle, 9 Nov 2014

In a speech to business and political leaders in Beijing on Sunday, President Xi Jinping touted the benefits of Chinese development and described his vision of an "Asia-Pacific dream" based on a "shared destiny" for the region.

"For the Asia-Pacific and the world at large, China's development will generate huge opportunities and benefits, and hold lasting and infinite promise," Xi told the gathering, ahead of the two-day Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit which kicks off in the Chinese capital on Monday.

Beijing last hosted the event in 2001, and it's seizing the opportunity to promote its credentials as the world's second largest economy and a leader in the region.

"We have the responsibility to create and realize an Asia-Pacific dream for the people of the region," Xi said.

As "China's overall national strength grows," he added, it would focus on "managing its own affairs well" while looking to "bring more benefits to the Asia-Pacific and the world."

China's outbound investment would exceed $1.25 trillion (1 trillion euros) over the next 10 years, Xi told business leaders, adding that the country would import more than $10 trillion in goods and send more than 500 million tourists abroad in the next five years.

China's free trade push

Next week's APEC summit will be attended by leaders from the forum's 21 member countries, including US President Barack Obama, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

One of the top items on the agenda is expected to be a Beijing-backed free trade initiative for the region - known as the Free-Trade Area of the Asia Pacific (FTAAP) - widely seen as an attempt by China to counter US domination of global trade.

The US is also promoting its own regional trade pact, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which excludes Beijing and is part of Washington's strategic "pivot" to Asia.

The APEC group accounts for 40 percent of the world's population and almost half of its trade.

Silk Road Fund

As part of another initiative aimed at increasing China's influence in regional and international trade, President Xi on Saturday pledged $40 billion for a "Silk Road Fund" to boost trade ties between Asian nations. He made the announcement following a meeting with leaders from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Laos, Mongolia, Myanmar and Tajikistan in Beijing, state news agency Xinhua reported on Sunday.

The fund will finance infrastructure and cooperation in industry to increase connectivity across Asia, Xi said.

"Efforts by a single or several countries are far from adequate," Xi was quoted by Xinhua as saying. "Only by building extensive partnerships where all will think and work in unison can we expect to achieve positive results."

Last month, China and 20 other Asian governments launched a $50-billion Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank to finance infrastructure in the region - a move the US objected to, saying such work was already being done by the World Bank.

nm/kms(AP, AFP, dpa, Reuters)

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21 Asian countries sign MOU on new development bank

Want China Times, Xinhua 2014-10-24

Xi Jinping shakes with the representative at a singing ceremony in Beijing,
Oct. 24. (Photo/CNS)

Twenty-one Asian countries willing to join the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) as founding members on Friday morning signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Establishing AIIB (MOU).

Chinese President Xi Jinping met with the representatives of the 21 nations later in the morning.

The 21 countries are Bangladesh, Brunei, Cambodia, China, India, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Laos, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Oman, Pakistan, the Philippines, Qatar, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.

The MOU specifies that the authorized capital of AIIB is US$100 billion and the initial subscribed capital is expected to be around US$50 billion. The paid-in ratio will be 20%.

AIIB will be an inter-governmental regional development institution in Asia. As agreed, Beijing will be the host city for AIIB's headquarters.

It is expected that the Prospective Founding Members will complete the signing and ratification of the Articles of Agreement (AOA) in 2015 and AIIB will be formally established by the end of the same year.

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BRICS create development bank, based in Shanghai

Yahoo – AFP, 15 July 2014

The BRICS group of emerging powers launched a $50 billion development bank Tuesday to be based in Shanghai and a $100 billion crisis contingency fund, according to a joint declaration.

The New Development Bank's first president will be from India while the board's chairman will be Brazilian, according to the declaration released at a summit in Fortaleza, Brazil.

The bank will have an initial subscribed capital of $50 billion followed by an authorized capital of $100 billion, equally shared among Brazil, Russia, China, India and South Africa.

The Contingency Reserve Arrangement will have an initial size of $100 billion and will help countries avoid "short-term liquidity pressures, promote further BRICS cooperation, strengthen the global financial safety net and complement existing international arrangements."

The bank and fund are seen as counterweights to the Western-dominated World Bank and International Monetary Fund, which BRICS nations say need more reform to give emerging nations more voting rights.

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Russia proposes energy association within BRICS

English.news.cn, 2014-07-10

MOSCOW, July 10 (Xinhua) -- Russia plans to establish an energy association within the BRICS countries, the Kremlin said Thursday.

"Russia is going to propose the establishment of the BRICS energy association, which would guarantee energy security of the member countries, conduct integrated research and analysis of global markets," presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said.

The organization will include a fuel reserve bank and an institution for energy policy, he added.

The official said the initiative has been discussed at the governmental level.

BRICS is the acronym for five major emerging economies, namely Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. The sixth BRICS summit is due to take place on July 15-16 in Brazil.

According to Ushakov, the summit will discuss cooperation in trade, investment and financial sphere, as well as international political affairs like the Ukraine crisis.

The leaders will also sign an agreement on currency reserves pool, "a foundation of macroeconomic coordination of the five countries, to help strengthen the global financial system," Ushakov said.

A BRICS Development Bank was first mooted during the New Delhi summit in March 2012, so as to "establish a BRICS financial safety net."

Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, South African President Jacob Zuma and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend the summit.

Chinese president urges joint efforts in building silk road economic belt

English.news.cn, Editor: Mengjie, 2014-06-05

Chinese President Xi Jinping delivers a keynote speech on the relations and
 cooperation between China and Arab states at the opening ceremony of the Sixth
 Ministerial Conference of the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum (CASCF) in
Beijing, capital of China, June 5, 2014. (Xinhua/Ju Peng)

BEIJING, June 5 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping called on China and Arab states to make joint efforts in negotiations, implementation and sharing in building the "One Belt and One Road".

Xi made the remarks in his address at the opening ceremony of the sixth ministerial conference of the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum (CASCF) held in Beijing, which called on the two sides to carry forward the Silk Road spirit and deepen their cooperation.

The "One Belt and One Road" refers to the "Silk Road Economic Belt" and "21st Century Maritime Silk Road", concepts put forward by Xi during his visit to Central Asia and Southeast Asia respectively in 2013.

Xi noted that in negotiations, China and Arab states need to pool wisdom and share good ideas with each other to achieve desirable results in their joint endeavor, so that the development of the "One Belt and One Road" will accommodate the interests and concerns and reflect the wisdom and creativity of both sides.

In implementation, Xi said, China and Arab states need to do their best to bring into play their respective advantages, tap the potential and register major achievements from accumulated efforts in a persevering way.

He added that sharing means China and Arab states need to make more development achievements benefit people of the two sides in a fairer way and build a community of shared interests and common destinies for China and Arab states.

Around 200 guests from China and Arab states, including Secretary-general of the League of Arab States Nabil Elaraby, and foreign ministers or representatives attended the forum.

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"The Timing of the Great Shift" – Mar 21, 2009 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Text version)

“ … Here is another one. A change in what Human nature will allow for government. "Careful, Kryon, don't talk about politics. You'll get in trouble." I won't get in trouble. I'm going to tell you to watch for leadership that cares about you. "You mean politics is going to change?" It already has. It's beginning. Watch for it. You're going to see a total phase-out of old energy dictatorships eventually. The potential is that you're going to see that before 2013. They're going to fall over, you know, because the energy of the population will not sustain an old energy leader. Remember where you heard it... in a strange, esoteric meeting with a guy in a chair pretending to channel. [Kryon being factious... Kryon humor] Then when you hear it, you'll know better, won't you? "Maybe there was something really there," you'll say. "Maybe it was real," you'll say. Perhaps you can skip all the drama of the years to come and consider that now? [Kryon humor again]

These leaders are going to fall over. You'll have a slow developing leadership coming to you all over the earth where there is a new energy of caring about the public. "That's just too much to ask for in politics, Kryon." Watch for it. That's just the beginning of this last phase. So many things are coming. The next one is related to this, for a country in survival with sickness cannot sustain a leadership of high consciousness. There is just too much opportunity for power and greed. But when a continent is healed, everything changes.

The next one: You're going to heal a continent. Watch for it. It begins. Watch for major shift in Africa. We have said this before, even within the meetings I spoke in what you call the United Nations. Africa has never even been a potential player in the economic field, because it has been sick. What happens when you heal a continent? I'm going to tell you. Suddenly, the people on that continent also want what you have - government that works, peace, their own homes, schools, hospitals, and even banks where they can borrow from. They don't have any of those now, not really. Everything with substance is from somewhere else. That means you're going to have a continent that's going to arise that will become a major player on the stage of Earth's finances and political influence - an entire continent with all the resources on it, with even the potential for unification of common purpose, much like what you have now in your EU. I'm giving you information, and when it happens, again, I say you'll remember where you heard it.

Many years ago, the prevailing thought was that nobody should consider China as a viable player on the economic stage. They were backward, filled with a system that would never be westernized, and had no wish to become joined with the rest of the world's economic systems. Look what has happened in only 30 years. Now, look at Africa differently.. ...”

Modi sworn in as India PM promising 'inclusive' agenda

Yahoo – AFP, May 27, 2014

Modi sworn in as India PM promising 'inclusive' agenda (AFP)

New Delhi (AFP) - India's Narendra Modi was sworn in as prime minister Monday with the strongest mandate of any leader for 30 years, promising to forge a "strong and inclusive" country on a first day that signalled his bold intentions.

The 63-year-old Hindu nationalist broke with tradition and invited his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif to the ceremony. Sharif hailed a "great moment and a great opportunity" for peace in the region.

The pro-business leader was also expected to reveal a sharply reduced government of 45 members, a cut of 26 from that of his predecessor Manmohan Singh, to try to speed up decision-making and slash India's notorious bureaucracy.

"Together we will script a glorious future for India," Modi said in a statement posted on the website of the prime minister shortly after he took the oath in front of President Pranab Mukherjee.

"Let us together dream of a strong, developed and inclusive India that actively engages with the global community to strengthen the cause of world peace and development," the statement said.

Ten days after his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won the first parliamentary majority since 1984, Modi entered office riding a wave of public support that has obscured his past as a controversial politician tainted by religious violence.

The former teaboy has risen through the ranks of right-wing Hindu organisations and was boycotted by Western nations for a decade over anti-Muslim riots that occurred while he was running his home state of Gujarat in western India in 2002.

He said in his statement that he was elected with "a mandate for development, good governance and stability" -- avoiding any reference to the Hindu nationalist plank of his party's election manifesto.

Senior members in his government are Arun Jaitley, tipped as finance minister, Sushma Swaraj, likely to be foreign minister, and Rajnath Singh, who is lined up for the home portfolio.

Figures such as Uma Bharti, a hardliner once expelled from the BJP after accusing the party of abandoning core Hindu concerns, indicated that the religious right would retain some influence.

'Chance to reach out'

As stocks markets rose at the prospect of a pro-business leader taking the helm of the world's largest democracy, the prime minister of India's nuclear-armed rival gave voice to a widespread sense of optimism.

"This is a chance to reach out to each other. Both governments have a strong mandate," Pakistan premier Sharif told India's NDTV network, according to a transcript provided by the Pakistan High Commission.

"Both countries should rid the region of instability and security that has plagued us for decades," he said.

He promised to pick up the threads of a failed peace process which went on during his second term in office -- which coincided with the last BJP government in India.

In 1999, then-Indian prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee rode a bus to the Pakistani city of Lahore to sign an accord with Sharif, but three months later the neighbours nearly went to war over the disputed Himalayan territory of Kashmir.

Sharif sat among other leaders from South Asia invited for the ceremony at the vast colonial-era presidency building, where thousands of dignitaries sweltered in the mid-summer heat during the oath-taking.

'Right turn'

After a decade of left-leaning Congress party rule, the 63-year-old Modi is expected to move India firmly to the right in the next five years with a mantra of "Minimum Government, Maximum Governance".

The BJP secured the first majority since 1984 at the election, trouncing the scandal-plagued Congress on a promise of reviving manufacturing and investment to create millions of jobs.

Modi's pledge to overhaul the flagging economy won over voters, along with his rags-to-riches story and reputation as a clean and efficient chief minister of prosperous Gujarat state.

"The country needs to be steered in the right direction now and only Modi can do it. He's got a strict school headmaster quality about him," Kavita Lal, a 32-year-old IT professional, told AFP.

Like many, she mocked the prime ministership of the 81-year-old Singh who rarely spoke to the media and was widely seen as lacking authority.

"It just seemed like for the last 10 years we had no leader in the country," she said.

Since election results on May 16, Modi has been at pains to put his divisive past behind him, appearing statesmanlike and generous even to political opponents.

In a rare sign of emotion last week, he choked back tears as he promised to try to live up to the expectations of all Indians including "our weakest and poorest" during a speech in parliament.

The invitation to Sharif was seen as a significant olive branch to India's Muslim neighbour and marked the first time that a leader from either country had attended his counterpart's inauguration since independence in 1947.

India and Pakistan have fought three wars since independence. Bilateral ties broke down after the 2008 attacks by Pakistani gunmen in Mumbai in which 166 people were killed.

Narendra Modi, standing centre, takes the oath of office in Delhi. (Photograph: AP)

Narendra Modi shakes hands with Pakistan's Nawaz Sharif 

after the ceremony. Photograph: Prakash Singh/AFP/Getty Images

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In this handout photograph received from the Gujarat Information Bureau on

 May 22, 2014, India’s prime minister-elect and BJP leader Narendra Modi speaks

with his mother Hira Ba before leaving for New Delhi at her home. PHOTO / AFP