Cooperation on the Belt and Road Initiative has greatly contributed to the global fight against the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) epidemic and has broader prospects in the future, said deputies to the National People's Congress and members of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).

According to Wei Tao, an NPC deputy and chairman of Guangxi Beibu Gulf Port Group, both the cargo throughput and container throughput of Beibu Gulf ports maintained double-digit growth in the first quarter of this year.

"The growth is inseparable from deepening cooperation with the Belt and Road," said Wei.

Against the unfavorable background of the COVID-19 pandemic, in the first four months of 2020, China's imports and exports value to the Belt and Road countries reached 2.76 trillion yuan ($385.88 billion), an increase of 0.9 percent, accounting for 30.4 percent of the country's total foreign trade.

During the epidemic, many infrastructure and livelihood projects of the Belt and Road have played an important role. The energy project of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor has provided Pakistan with one-third of its electricity, while the number of lines and shipments of the China-Europe Railway Express freight trains increased by 24 percent and 27 percent year-on-year from January to April, transporting nearly 8,000 tons of anti-epidemic materials.

Gu Xueming, a CPPCC National Committee member and director of the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, noted that this data not only shows the great potential of the Belt and Road cooperation, but also reflects the initiative's contributions in supporting the global fight against the COVID-19 epidemic, as well as in restoring normal economic and social order.