China, being the world’s second-largest economy and the largest trading country, is the key trading partner for numerous countries.

While many would associate the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) with greater infrastructure connectivity among participating countries, promoting financial cooperation and enhancing capital flows are also objectives of the BRI in a bid to establish a transnational platform in order to deepen economic cooperation and financial integration.

CULTURE embodies the way of life of a society. From language, knowledge, customs and beliefs to ideas, skills, arts and crafts, culture is how a society organises itself. Heritage is an aspect of culture that is transmitted from generation to generation. According to the Unesco Convention for the safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage, “tangible cultural heritage” includes artistic creations, built heritage such as buildings and monuments and other physical or tangible products of human creativity that are invested with cultural significance in a society. Meanwhile, “intangible cultural heritage” indicates “the practices, representations, expressions, knowledge, skills – as well as the instruments, objects, artefacts and cultural spaces associated therewith – that communities, groups and, in some cases, individuals recognise as part of their cultural heritage” (Unesco, 2003).

THE Advisory Council of the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation (Advisory Council) is a non-profit and international policy advisory body. Established in 2018, it aims to provide intellectual support to the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation. In the latest annual meeting of the Advisory Council of the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation was held on Dec 17, 2021, the report titled “High-Quality Belt and Road Cooperation: Partnership on Connectivity” was released, focusing on findings and recommendations from the 2019 and 2020 meetings.

FOREIGN direct investment (FDI) has long been viewed as an important catalyst of economic development. It contributes to job creation, productivity growth and infrastructure development, all of which lead to greater living standards and higher economic growth.

It is common for people to think of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin or Ethereum when it comes to talk about Blockchain technology.

WITH an increasingly interdependent world economy, international economic cooperation is typically used to facilitate the processes of trade and investment. However, we see dramatic changes in the traditional definitions and functions of international economic cooperation. This has heightened the desire to revise the traditional international economic cooperation policies. One such move is through the introduction of the “Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)” by China.

THE Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) was launched by China’s President Xi Jinping in 2013, with an ambition to connect Asia, Europe and Africa through infrastructure and trade relations.

THE prevalence of green financing in Asia has increased substantially over the years, following the region’s pledge to commit to net-zero goals since the launch of the Paris Agreement in 2015.

THE advent of Covid-19 pandemic saw a growing number of countries experiencing sporadic yet increasingly severe cases of food insecurity, eclipsing years of remarkable achievements in ensuring that people have sufficient food to meet their needs.

AS China and Malaysia approaches the 47th year of diplomatic relationships, relations between the two countries have attained a healthy and stable state. However, in 2020, a huge change occurred, affecting most, if not all, countries around the world – the Covid-19 pandemic.

THE “Belt and Road Initiative” (BRI) is a new champion of globalisation by the Chinese government to reconstitute the ancient Silk Road into a contemporary mode in a vast area by improving the economic integration of China with Asia, Europe and Africa.