Xiconomics: How China, Along with Other BRICS Nations, Turns Aspirations for Common Development into Reality(1)

Photo taken on Jan. 18, 2021 shows Longping High-Tech Brazil, a Chinese-invested company owned by Longping Agriculture Science Co., Ltd., in Cravinhos, Brazil. (Xinhua)

BEIJING, June 25 (Xinhua) -- Traversed by the lower Amazon River flowing into the Atlantic Ocean, the state of Para has one of the busiest port in Brazil and a wealth of mineral and agricultural resources. However, for decades, local people have been struggling to harness the natural abundance to their well-being.

Lack of funds on large projects such as roads and transmission lines delayed the state's integration with markets in the country's rich south. And local residents have limited access to smaller infrastructure that more directly helps them to earn money.

Aline Feitosa, a mother of four who runs a small bar in Brasil Novo in Para state, is upset about muddy roads in the city. "People didn't come to my bar because of the mud in the rainy season and the dust in the drought season."

Among the country's 26 states, Para is the fifth poorest in terms of GDP per capita due in part to a chronic shortage of infrastructure. But things are changing for the better.

PEOPLE-CENTERED COOPERATION

In 2018 and 2021, the New Development Bank (NDB) granted loans of over 200 million U.S. dollars to build roads, bridges as well as sanitation and communication facilities in Para.

In the city of Brasil Novo, local authorities managed to pave some 17 km of roads with the NDB funds and construction is expected to finish by August. The renovated roads and a well-designed drainage system will not only renew the community but also improve health condition of the residents as dust in summer used to flow into every single household and cause many to suffer from serious respiratory diseases.

Promoting the welfare of the people has always been a major area of the BRICS cooperation over the past 16 years. Since its inception in 2015, the NDB has become an essential part of the BRICS mechanism tasked with promoting joint development with a people-centered philosophy.

The bank has approved more than 80 projects regarding transportation, energy and other types of infrastructure with a total portfolio of some 30 billion dollars to improve people's well-being.

"We should respond to people's concerns, pursue the larger interests of all countries, and steer global development to a new era to deliver benefit to all," Chinese President Xi Jinping said in his keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the BRICS Business Forum delivered on Wednesday.