The Embassy of Solomon Islands in Beijing is in discussion with the National Development and Reform Commission of the People’s Republic of China to negotiate an agreement and project implementation plan for Solomon Islands under the Belt and Road Initiative.
Solomon Islands Ambassador to China H.E Barrett Salato held discussion with senior officials from the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) of PRC on Tuesday, 16th April, to start the next steps on the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) cooperation with China.
Cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative requires a three steps process. The first step is the signing of the BRI by a partner country, which Solomon Islands government have done in 2019. The second step is to negotiate the standard cooperation agreement and its accompanying project implementation plan. And the third step is implementation stage.
Ambassador Salato said, Solomon Islands is in the second step, which is to negotiate and agree to the cooperation plan by identifying and prioritizing national projects to be implemented under the BRI framework. Speaking during a bilateral meeting, the Director of Regional Opening Up of NDRC, Mr. Yan Chang, said his team stands ready to work closely with Solomon Islands to cooperate and implement projects that Solomon Islands prioritize under the BRI framework.
In response H.E Salato said, “The crucial aspect of the Cooperation Plan is what kind of projects Solomon Islands will prioritize for implementation”.
He added that identification and prioritization of national projects would need to go through a careful and extensive consultation process at the national level. This will be the responsibility of the new government of Solomon Islands when it took office after the national general election.
Many partner countries around the world have benefitted greatly from China’s BRI, especially in infrastructure development.
Solomon Islands, with inherent infrastructure deficiency, has the opportunity to transform its infrastructure landscape under the BRI cooperation with China.