Written by: MD Talebur Islam(Bangladesh)

Professor Chen Yin, Secretary General of the Shanghai Free Trade Zone Research Institute and professor at Fudan University, delivered a lecture on December 13 on the 'Pilot Free Trade Zone and the 'Belt and Road Initiative(BRI)'' in Shanghai. The lecture focused on the Shanghai Free Trade Zone, which was established in September 2013 and has since expanded to 22 across China. The lecture also discussed BRI, which has played a significant role in policy coordination and facility connectivity.

Professor Yin introduced transportation facilities like the China-Laos Railway, Greek ports, and China-Europe trains, as well as economic parks like the Belarusian Great Stone Industrial Park. He also discussed the impact of free trade zones on trade growth and people-to-people connectivity. He also highlighted the contributions of other free trade zones to the construction of the BRI, such as trade interoperability, transportation facilities, educational exchanges, and scientific and technological training.

During the Q&A session, Silk Road School(SRS) students from Bangladesh, India, Cambodia, Ghana, and other countries asked questions about various bilateral and multilateral trade cooperations in Asia, the influence of international politics on the economic strategies, Shanghai Tesla's Sino-foreign cooperation model, the development of free trade agreements, and the security of investment in Africa. Teacher Yin responded that the trade agreement is within the framework of the BRI and that China will seek sustainable development after the framework is stable. In the future, China's large companies will play a more integral role in the initiative and will choose more growth-driven paths from different directions to ensure citizen safety.