BRI stands for trade, open market: Siemens CEO

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) proposed by China upholds trade and the importance of maintaining open market, which helps global economies grow faster, said Roland Busch, President and CEO of Siemens AG, in an interview with China Central Television (CCTV) aired on Friday.

Noting that the BRI is both an infrastructure project and a carrier of the value of multilateralism, the CEO said the initiative helps to boost global economic growth and improve people's wellbeing.

"This is first and foremost an infrastructure project, but also a project that brings a kind of value to developing countries at the same time and connecting them. So, trade and the importance of an open market is super important. And I would say that the Belt and Road Initiative stands for that. This helps global economies grow faster, which is super important, also to get people out of poverty," said Busch.

He added that China stands as one of the beneficiaries of multilateralism and the country's pursuit of modernization is characterized by nurturing a competitive market, innovation strength, and entrepreneurial spirit of the people.

"It's the combination of a very demanding market and the innovation strengths, as I said before. But let me add one more element and it's the entrepreneurial spirit of the people," Busch said.

BRI stands for trade, open market: Siemens CEO

BRI stands for trade, open market: Siemens CEO

The death toll from a landfill collapse in the central Philippine city of Cebu has risen to eight by Monday morning as search and rescue operations continued for another 28 missing people.

The landfill collapse occurred on Thursday as dozens of sanitation workers were working at the site. The disaster has already caused injuries of 18 people.

Family members of the missing people said the rescue progress is slow, and the hope for the survival of their loved ones is fading.

"For me, maybe I’ve accepted the worst result already because the garbage is poisonous and yesterday, it was raining very hard the whole day. Maybe they’ve been poisoned. For us, alive or dead, I hope we can get their bodies out of the garbage rubble," said Maria Kareen Rubin, a family member of a victim.

Families have set up camps on high ground near the landfill, awaiting news of their relatives. Some people at the site said cries for help could still be heard hours after the landfill collapsed, but these voices gradually faded away.

Bienvenido Ranido, who lost his wife in the disaster, said he can't believe all that happened.

"After they gave my wife oxygen, my kids and I were expecting that she would be saved that night because she was still alive. But the night came and till the next morning, they didn't manage to save her," he said.

Death toll in central Philippine landfill collapse rises to eight