Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Tuesday hailed the achievements made by cooperating under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), calling for common development and joint actions in the public health sector amid the spread of COVID-19.

Wang made the remarks when attending the fifth Silk Road International Exposition as well as the Investment and Trade Forum for Cooperation between East and West China in Xi'an, capital of northwest China's Shaanxi Province, via video link.

In his speech, Wang emphasized global public health cooperation under the BRI framework. Calling the pandemic a global challenge that no one can tackle alone, Wang said the BRI's commitment to multilateralism, connectivity and unity boosted mankind's confidence to win the battle.

Stressing that the virus transcends boundaries and races, Wang said the BRI has become a road to defend public health.

He called for BRI partners to strengthen unity, carry out information sharing and joint prevention and control, and strengthen international cooperation in vaccine research, production and distribution to realize vaccine accessibility and affordability in developing countries.

According to Wang, China offered anti-pandemic assistance to over 120 BRI partners and provided vaccines to around 90. As much as 11.05 million medical materials had been transported through the China-Europe freight train as of March.

Wang called for enhanced connectivity to consolidate the foundation for higher-level development and urged BRI partners to accelerate the improvement of channels for personnel exchanges and cargo transportation, strengthen infrastructural connectivity, promote the alignment of rules and standards, and deepen cooperation in digital inter-connectivity.

Noting how the BRI has been facilitating socioeconomic recovery, the Chinese foreign minister said the BRI partners were making new progress in enhancing coordination on economic policies, promoting cooperation in trade and investment thanks to the BRI.

The BRI partners should stick to mutually beneficial and win-win cooperation and build a higher-quality economic and trade cooperation platform, the Chinese foreign minister said.

He said, under the BRI framework, countries can fully explore their development potentials by complementing each other's advantages, while platforms such as Green Belt and Road Initiative also inject impetus into the global economy growth.