The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has seen more countries and international organizations participating, especially in the area of "third-party market cooperation", according to the report "Borderless win-win cooperation in building the Belt and Road" released yesterday by EY, a global leader in assurance, tax, transaction and advisory services.

This report focuses on the development and prospects of "third-party market cooperation" under the BRI. With the challenges of the current imbalanced global economic development, rising unilateralism and protectionism as well as the increasingly complicated geopolitical situation, China is promoting "third-party market cooperation" as an important move to boost the Belt and Road (B&R) construction.

So far China has signed documents on third-party market cooperation with Japan, France, Canada, Singapore, Spain, Netherlands, Belgium, Italy and Australia, along with some other international organizations. 

Third-party market cooperation under the BRI will optimize the efficiency of global resource allocation, said the report. It is also a new model combining China's production capacity with advanced technologies from developed countries to meet the high level of demand in developing countries.

"Chinese enterprises and their peers in developed countries complement each other with broad prospects for cooperation in infrastructure, energy, environmental protection, finance and other sectors," said Alex Zhu, Investment and M&A Services Leader of EY B&R Task Force, Power & Utilities Market Segment Leader of Greater China. 

The China-Japan third-party market cooperation not only brings opportunities for the two countries and third parties, but also contribute to the prosperity of different regions. The two countries have changed from rivals to partners in third country markets and cooperated in infrastructure, technology and finance, said Zhu. The two sides also have great potential for further cooperation in the infrastructure and technology sectors, especially in advanced manufacturing, artificial intelligence and healthcare.

As of the spring of 2018, Nippon Express worked with China Railway to assist Japanese enterprises to carry out regular freighting in Central Asia and Europe through China-Europe freight trains. The new transportation route now takes 20 to 30 days, 10 days faster than by ocean shipping, and costs half that of air freighting.

The report also highlighted China-France third-party collaboration, which helps Chinese and French companies better explore Asian and African markets together in the sectors of finance, energy and transport and logistics. A China-UK third party collaboration is in the works too, and each have their own strengths.

The BRI not only enhances the interconnectivity between China and developing countries, but also attracts many developed countries to participate. By the end of 2018, China had signed 170 cooperation agreements with 122 countries and 29 international organizations.