The 2024 Belt and Road Commerce Chambers and Associations Conference (GCCAC) is held in Fuzhou, East China's Fujian Province on December 5, 2024.Photo: Courtesy of the GCCAC

The 2024 Belt and Road Commerce Chambers and Associations Conference (GCCAC) was held in Fuzhou, East China's Fujian Province on Thursday.

The conference, themed "Maritime Fuzhou: Together for a New Chapter in Maritime Silk Road Cooperation," aims to build an effective platform for connectivity and promote exchanges and cooperation in fields such as economy and trade, culture, science and technology with countries participating in the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), as well as the prosperity and development of the Maritime Silk Road.

The joint construction of the BRI has already entered a new stage of high-quality development.

Ambassadors, provincial and municipal leaders, heads of domestic and foreign business associations, as well as experts and corporate representatives participated in the one-day event.

The conference actively explored new models for jointly building the BRI, jointly shaping new drivers for high-quality development, creating a new ecosystem of mutual benefits and win-win outcomes, and contributing civil forces to the deep and practical advancement of the BRI in the world.

The city of Fuzhou is an important place of origin for the Maritime Silk Road. Fuzhou is deeply integrated into the high-quality joint construction of the BRI, continuously expanding its high-level opening-up, said Guo Ningning, a member of the Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Fujian Provincial Committee and secretary of the CPC Fuzhou Municipal Committee, during the conference.

The conference brought together numerous representatives of business associations and entrepreneurs from both domestic and overseas to share opportunities, discuss cooperation and promote development, which will undoubtedly inject new momentum and vitality into the high-quality joint construction of the BRI, Guo noted.

Cui Shixin, a deputy editor-in-chief of the People's Daily, said at the event that since Chinese President Xi Jinping first proposed the BRI, it has already gone through a decade of prosperity. Cui said that over the past decade, business associations and other civil organizations have acted as bridges and links, creating a favorable platform for exchanges and cooperation between enterprises, governments, and industries. They have played a significant role in facilitating trade and promoting people-to-people exchanges.

Standing at a new starting point, let's join hands and give full play to the economic power of business associations and the private sector, and better utilize the advantages of the media to help make the BRI - the "belt of development" for the benefit of the world, more prosperous, and the "road of happiness" that is wider than ever for the benefit of mankind, Cui noted.

Under the guidance of the People's Daily, the conference was hosted by the Fuzhou Municipal People's Government, the Global Times and the Fujian Federation of Commerce and Industry.

The event was jointly organized by the Global Times Online, the Administrative Committee of Fuzhou New Area, the Administrative Committee of the Fuzhou New Area of China (Fujian) Pilot Free Trade Zone, the Information Office of Fuzhou Municipal People's Government, the Fuzhou Federation of Industry and Commerce and the Fujian Chuanzheng Culture Management Committee.