China's Xi lauds new Silk Road, says $15 billion invested last year

Chinese President Xi Jinping speaks during a ceremony marking the 15th anniversary of the signing of the China-Russia Treaty on Good neighborliness, Friendship and Cooperation, in Beijing's Great Hall of the People on June 25, 2016. REUTERS/Greg Baker/Pool

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Chinese companies invested nearly $15 billion in countries participating in Beijing's new Silk Road initiative last year, up one-fifth from 2014, President Xi Jinping said in Uzbekistan, lauding a scheme that is one of his key foreign policy.

Under the programme, announced by Xi in 2013, and also known as the "One Belt, One Road" programme, China aims to invest in infrastructure projects including railways and power grids in central, west and southern Asia, as well as Africa and Europe.