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Photo Credit: World Bankdevelopment, push forward supply-side structural reform, accelerate the building of a new system for an open economy, drive economic development with innovation, and achieve sustainable development. China will stay firmly committed to peaceful development and make even greater contribution to global peace and development.Last May, China successfully hosted the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, which was attended by 29 heads of state or government and over 1,600 representatives from more than 140 countries and 80-plus international organizations. This ushered in a new stage of translating the Belt and Road Initiative from vision to action and from planning to implementation. Forum participants discussed ways of promoting cooperation and development and reached broad consensus. Let me make this clear: The Belt and Road Initiative is not a tool to advance any geopolitical agenda, but a platform for practical cooperation. It is not a foreign aid scheme, but an initiative for interconnected development which calls for extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits. I am convinced that the Belt and Road Initiative will serve as a new platform for all countries to achieve a win-win cooperation and that it will create new opportunities for implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. ■Xi Jinping, President of the People’s Republic of China, delivered the above remarks (an excerpt) at the Opening Ceremony of The BRICS Business Pictured: Xi JinpingForum on 3 September 2017. THE G20 MEMBER COUNTRIES 029