BEIJING, May 15 (Xinhua) — The Belt and Road Initiative has a lot of potential, said Peter Maurer, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in an interview with Xinhua on Monday.
“For a long time, the world has been preoccupied. To invest in China, to come to China, to see China develop,” he said. “While this concept is also about what China gives back to the world and how China contributes.”
He noted that many participants in the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation focused first and foremost on economic development issues. “They have talked about connectivity: railways, bridges and power plants.”
“We hope, as representative for humanitarian organizations, that the initiative not only talks about development, but also about some of the challenges on the Belt and Road,” he said.
In his speech at the Belt and Road Forum Sunday, Maurer proposed that it also have a humanitarian dimension, which “is so important for building peace in the long run.”
The ICRC could contribute to the achievement and concretization of the Belt and Road Initiative, he said. The ICRC could also provide stability to the Belt and Road as first responders, and then transform that response into helping people to help themselves.
