A joint initiative could be the solution for sustaining international cooperation mechanism during the COVID-19 blow, Silk Road Think Tank Network (SiLKS) said in recent. 

SiLKS, guided by the Development Research Center (DRC) of China's State Council, held its Online Annual Meeting on September 29 and launched a joint initiative to meet the challenges and promote the recovery and sustainable development of the global economy.

Despite this time of crisis, sustaining the existing cooperation mechanisms like Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is more important than ever. The development of BRI has not ceased, and even achieved more progress against such background. According data from China's Ministry of Commerce, Outward Foreign Direct Investment (ODI) into BRI-related economies took up 17.2 percent of the total for Jan-August period, up 4.8 percentage points year on year. The value of new contracted projects in the BRI-related economies was $72.95 billion, while the completed turnover was $46.02 billion, both taking up more than half of the total.

The joint initiative stressed that it is more important than ever to uphold the concept of a community of shared future for mankind, strengthen solidarity and cooperation, and adhere to multilateralism, in order to foster high-quality growth and consolidate regional trade cooperation.

"The challenges remain tough as the pandemic is still raging globally which adds momentum to the anti-globalization trend. The joint initiative calls for closer partnership among Belt and Road Initiative partners, with collaborative areas ranging from pandemic control to economic resurgence," said Tao Pingsheng, director of the International Cooperation Department of the DRC.

Tao also suggested to proactively use policy tools to strike a balance between macro-economic adjustment and stimulus, hence stabilize the global supply chain.

Several aspects have been listed as areas to be focused. "Highlights including healthcare, the digital economy and environmental protection could help shape a higher-quality growth pattern," Tao added.

The joint initiative noted that countries are confronted with difficult tasks to control the pandemic, stabilize the economy, and protect livelihoods.

Balazs Horvath, Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific (RBAP) senior economic and strategic advisor on BRI with UNDP, expressed his expectation for the role that such a think tank's network could play, saying "SiLKS does have the potential to become this sort of leader, and facilitate to achieve the sustainable development goals, shaping the COVID-19 recovery and policy response to be globally coordinated."

The joint initiative called for all parties to work together to achieve a global victory over the pandemic and jointly build a global community of health for all. It also emphasized that any attempts to politicize the COVID-19 pandemic, label the virus, or stigmatize any particular country should be opposed.

Yerzhan Saltybayev, director of the Institute of World Economics and Politics, mentioned that we should embrace the new dynamics and try to locate new opportunities when the pandemic already changed the world. "I strongly believe that global pandemic presents not only challenges but also opportunities. Belt and Road is a long term initiative, any problems and setbacks only present chances to rethink the implementation for tomorrow. The world will never be the same as before, and it does not need to, while we could make the world develop even better," he said. 

The joint initiative also expect members and partners to jointly build the SiLKS into an influential network of think tanks with sound governance, adequate funding, dynamic academic exchanges, and meaningful research findings. The network is set to provide high-standard intellectual support to high-quality Belt and Road cooperation post-COVID-19.