U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said yesterday that the Belt and Road Initiative provides historic opportunity while hailing its contribution to global infrastructure.

Addressing the opening ceremony of the third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, the U.N. chief said that there can be no development without development support, and many developing countries will be starved of the infrastructure they desperately need.

“This is why this meeting and the Belt and Road (Initiative) are so important,” he added.

“The Belt and Road (Initiative) demonstrates that we have historic opportunity to build more than green cities, communities and transportation and power systems,” he said.

“Together, with the contribution of the Belt and Road Initiative, we can turn the infrastructure emergency to infrastructure opportunity,” said Guterres.

Also yesterday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the Belt and Road Initiative put forward by Chinese President Xi Jinping is significant, global, and future-oriented.

The remarks were made at the opening ceremony of the third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation.

Speaking highly of the initiative, Putin said that Russia and China share the desire for universal sustainable and long-term economic progress and social welfare, while respecting civilizational diversity and the right of each state to adopt its own development path.

The initiative is built on such basic principles, he noted.

(Xinhua)