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BEIJING, April 25-- With the second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation (BRF) taking place here, leaders around the globe are speaking highly of the initiative and voicing their expectations for the gathering. The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a reference to the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, was initiated by China in 2013 with the aim of enhancing all-around connectivity through infrastructure construction, exploring new driving forces for world economic growth, and building a new platform for world economic cooperation. The BRI has created a new dimension for the development of the world economy, and its long-term strategic plan is unusual, said President Ueli Maurer of the Swiss Confederation. The Swiss president believed that globalization is the key to successful global development, and to achieve globalization, infrastructure construction at various levels would be indispensable. In this sense, he said, the BRI is a future-oriented project that will contribute to globalization, in which everyone can benefit from improving and upgrading infrastructure. For his part, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said he had advocated the revival of the ancient Silk Road for a long time and believed the BRI will boost connectivity between China and Southeast Asia. "In the promotion of relations between countries, the distance as well as the speed of travel is very important. With this scheme, I am quite sure more ships will be passing near Malaysia and Southeast Asian countries and therefore it will increase trade between Southeast Asia and China." | 
