The ADB intends to improve China's connectivity to the Uyghur Autonomous Region. (Photo : Getty Images)
An ADB official announced recently that the bank will be participating in China's 13th Five-Year Plan to carry out priorities for national development, including the Belt and Road Initiative.
"When we plan our forward pipeline of projects, we work with the National Development and Reform Commission and with the provinces to identify projects that may contribute to the Belt and Road Initiative within China and crossing the borders into neighboring countries," said Robert Guild, director for transportation of the bank's East Asia department.
"ADB has more than 40 developing member countries all through Asia. Also in those countries, we finance projects that may contribute to the Belt and Road Initiative on the other side of the border," he added.
According to the bank's website, the partnership between them and China is focused on support for innovation and infrastructure.
The bank stated, "ADB is focusing its support on innovation and value addition in infrastructure while promoting good governance and capacity development, knowledge solutions, private sector development, and gender equity."
The Belt and Road Initiative is a plan started by President Xi Jinping to improve China's connectivity to more than 60 countries.
In the transport sector, the bank intends to add more projects in China in the next three years.
Guild said, "We have planned cross-border facilities - things like warehouses, sorting yards, and places for trucks and trains to interchange their cargo--border crossing posts, support to small and medium-sized enterprises and information systems in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region . . .We also have projects dealing with logistics hubs in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, going to the west."
The bank recently approved loans totaling $17 billion for the construction of roads, improvement of railways, and improvement of information and communication systems.
