ISTANBUL, April 25 (Xinhua) -- The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is an inclusive project that promotes regional peace and growth, said a Turkish scholar.
The BRI "will furnish the people of all countries along the route with a safer, richer and more peaceful living environment," said Akkan Suver, chairman of Turkey's leading non-governmental organization (NGO) Marmara Group Strategic and Social Research Foundation.
Suver has been working to promote dialogue in the Eurasian region for quite some time. More than 20 years ago, Suver, then a Turkish journalist, left the newspaper business to join the NGO, as he felt a need to advance regional stability amid a rapidly-changing world.
Working in an NGO mainly composed of former government officials, former lawmakers, scholars and entrepreneurs, Suver founded the Eurasian Economic Summit in 1998, an annual international forum dedicated to creating dialogue, resolving regional disputes and promoting peace and development.
He said he found a lot in common between the projective of his forum and BRI's concept of peaceful cooperation, openness and inclusiveness.
"It (the BRI) connects the easternmost of Asia with the westernmost of Europe, boosts economies along the route, promotes cultural exchanges and integration," Suver said.
"The initiative is a project of peace...I truly believe that the Belt and Road project will be the road of stability, trade and interconnectivity," he said.
To better understand the BRI, Suver traveled to China over 10 times from 2014 to 2018. Returning home, he started to introduce the initiative to people around the world.
"The Belt and Road Initiative brings the world a new mechanism for dialogue," he said.
Indeed, on the 22nd Eurasian Economic Summit held in February, over 200 political and business leaders from 42 countries exchanged views on infrastructure, refugee settlement, climate change and other global issues under the Belt and Road theme.
"I believe if people in the region cannot understand and talk with each other, there will be no peace," Suver said.
Regional stability requires more than just peace in one country. It requires a network of communication and cooperation among countries, he said, adding that the BRI could bring regions and nations together for a common partnership from which all parties are to benefit.
The BRI is a future-oriented roadmap that will contribute to the prosperity of our children and grandchildren, Suver said.
