$64 billion in deals as nations line up to be part of BRI!

• Sheikh Mohammed headed the UAE delegation to the summit.

Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Saturday that $64 billion in deals were signed at a summit on his Belt and Road Initiative and more nations would join the global infrastructure programme as he sought to ease concerns over the colossal project.

Xi and 37 world leaders wrapped up a three-day forum in Beijing with pledges to ensure that projects on the new Silk Road are green and financially sustainable following concerns about debt and environmental damage.

His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, headed the UAE delegation to the summit.
"We concluded our participation in the Belt and Road Conference for International Cooperation. The global initiative will connect societies, economies & people & boost global growth in multiple sectors & industries through developed infrastructures and new trade routes," Sheikh Mohammed tweeted.

"We are committed to supporting open, clean and green development and rejecting protectionism," Xi told journalists at the end of the forum.

"This year's forum sends a clear message: more and more friends and partners will join in the Belt and Road cooperation," Xi said.

A communique released after the meeting showed that Equatorial Guinea, Liberia, Luxembourg, Jamaica, Peru, Italy, Barbados, Cyprus and Yemen were the latest countries to join the club.

Xi said enterprises will be the main driver in all Belt and Road projects and market principles will apply, with governments providing a supporting role. "This will make the projects more sustainable and create a fair and non-discriminatory environment for foreign investors," Xi said.

The communique said leaders encouraged multilateral development banks and other international financial institutions to support projects "in fiscally sustainable ways" and mobilise private capital in line with local needs.