Two Indonesian women pose for a photo in front of a model of China's high-speed train in Walini, WestJava province, on Jan 21, 2016 to mark the launch of the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway project. [Photo/Xinhua]

　　Overall investment needed for projects may reach $3.26 trillion

　　Infrastructure connectivity is a focus of both the Belt and Road Initiative and the G20 Leaders Summit because of its significance for boosting economic growth and promoting prosperity.

　　In the communiqué issued after the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meetingheld in Chengdu, Sichuan province on July 23-24, a global infrastructure connectivity alliance wasplanned to be launched to enhance the synergy and cooperation among various infrastructureconnectivity programs in a holistic way.

　　As the communiqué said, greater interconnectivity is a defining demand of the 21st centuryglobal economy and the key to promoting sustainable development and shared prosperity.

　　A core aim of the Belt and Road Initiative is to achieve connectivity in five aspects, includingpolicy, infrastructure, trade, financing and peoples.

　　Infrastructure connectivity is a priority area for the Belt and Road Initiative, because it directlyrelates to trade costs and so will influence a region's trade level.

　　The development of many countries along the Belt and Road routes is restricted by theirunderdeveloped infrastructure due to geographic factors and their low financing capacity. Thatmeans there is an urgent demand for infrastructure construction in these countries, as well astremendous market potential to be tapped by improving the infrastructure connectivity along theBelt and Road.

　　The Chinese consultancy company SWS Research Co. estimated in a report on the Belt andRoad Initiative that the overall investment needed for infrastructure construction in core countriesalong the Belt and Road is about $3.26 trillion.

　　"Since the launch of the Belt and Road Initiative by July 2016, the total value of the contractprojects that China has signed with countries along the routes is $279 billion," said ShenDanyang, a Ministry of Commerce spokesman, at a media briefing on Aug 17.

　　A series of infrastructure projects in countries along the routes, mainly ports, railways, highways,airports and telecommunication networks, have been launched recently.

　　The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, which has been called "the first movement of thesymphony of the Belt and Road Initiative" by Wang Yi, China's foreign minister, is thedemonstration project of the six economic corridors of the Belt and Road Initiative and the firstmilestone in the implementation of the initiative.

　　"Connectivity, linkage and interdependence between China and Pakistan will all increase throughthe initiative," said Shaukat Aziz, former prime minister of Pakistan, in an exclusive interview withChina Daily in July.

　　Meanwhile, China's technological and management advantage in transportation infrastructureconstruction, especially high-speed railways, can effectively meet demands of the countriesalong the routes.

　　Construction of the China-Thailand railway within the Trans-Asia Railway network and Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway in Indonesia have successively started, and a batch of highways incountries along the routes have also been launched. A comprehensive regional traffic integrationnetwork is gradually forming shape.

　　Chu Yin, a researcher on the Belt and Road Initiative at the University of International Relations,states that there are three major regions for infrastructure construction along the Belt and Roadroutes, namely Southeast Asia, South-Central Asia and Africa.

　　"Infrastructure construction in these areas along the routes will be decisive in promoting regionalintegration," Chu said.