China's BRI promotes global cooperation, boosts trade: former Egyptian PM

China's reform and opening-up, particularly the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), has fostered economic growth, increased trade, and deepened international cooperation, said former Egyptian Prime Minister Essam Sharaf during an exclusive interview with China Global Television Network (CGTN). The achievement of Chinese modernization is rooted deeply in the key values of Chinese civilization -- harmony, peaceful coexistence and prosperity, said Sharaf on Monday during the 2024 Understanding China Conference held in Guangzhou, capital of south China's Guangdong Province.

This year's conference, on the theme of "Carry through the Reform to the End -- Chinese Modernization and New Opportunities for World Development," has brought together over 600 participants, including politicians, officials, scholars, foreign envoys and media representatives.

Sharaf emphasized China's positive influence on the world stage, stressing the significance of continued reform and opening-up

"China is a great country that gives hope to a lot of people in the world because, as I said, it is capable, has the ability, but also has a willing to assist others. So this comes with the opening-up of China to the world that needs internal development and different needs reform. And that's why the continuing reform is very important," he said.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has put forward eight actions of the country to promote the world development, with promoting high quality Belt and Road cooperation topping the agenda.

Sharaf commended how the BRI has evolved from a Chinese vision into a global platform for cooperation

"The Belt and Road Initiative is a very important global initiative. It is the first of four initiatives launched by President Xi in 2013. And it is historic because it is the largest international cooperation platform. It started with one country called China, and now it has documents, cooperation documents, including more than 140 countries and more than 30 international organizations. So it never happened [before]. So it connects people not only by physical infrastructure, but also through people connectivity," he said.

China's BRI promotes global cooperation, boosts trade: former Egyptian PM

Smart, terrain-adaptive harvesters are helping farmers in Bijie City, southwest China's Guizhou Province, make the most of the fine weather to bring in crops in its summer wheat harvest.

At a wheat farming base in Pingzhai Town of Zhijin County, several combine harvesters are busy working in the golden fields.

"We used to get in crops manually. It often rains in the wheat harvesting season, which would leave wheat rotten in the field, mildewed and sprouting. With mechanized harvesting, we've become more efficient. After it is harvested, the wheat can be quickly dried, guaranteeing the wheat quality," said Wang Jun, head of the wheat farming base.

This year, Bijie has widely introduced agricultural machinery services across all stages of summer grain production, from plowing, planting, managing to harvesting. To tackle the mountainous terrains, local operators have fine-tuned their equipment mix and promote small to medium-sized harvesters, which effectively improved the harvest efficiency.

"We're using tracked combine harvesters, which are advantageous in flexibility, as they turn easily in our hilly areas in Guizhou. With three machines, we can harvest about 10 hectares of wheat a day," said Peng Jian, head of an agricultural machinery service cooperative in Bijie's county-level city of Qianxi.

Bijie is set to harvest over 16,600 hectares of wheat this summer. Local authorities have implemented various subsidy policies for agricultural machinery while streamlining service links of equipment dispatch, maintenance, and technical support. The goal is to wrap up the summer wheat harvest by the end of May.

High-tech farming boosts summer harvest in Guizhou