Luxembourg's Deputy Prime Minister Etienne Schneider has voiced his country's support for China's Belt and Road Initiative, calling it a "win-win." 

"We fully support this initiative because we think it’s the right way to do," said Schneider, who's also minister of the economy and trade. "What's more, Luxembourg is the first non-Asian country to become the member of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB)." 

During an interview with Tian Wei, the host of CGTN's program World Insight, the minister also said there was some pressure when Luxembourg decided to join the initiative.

"I will not tell you which country but it was a very big country which didn’t really want us to become a part of this initiative," he said. "But we didn’t care about that because we have a really good experience with our Chinese partners. That’s why we want to show that we will continue supporting China in developing their activities and the Belt and Road Initiative is really something which we think will be in the interest not only of China but of all other countries which participate in it."  

Proposed by China in 2013, the Belt and Road aims to build trade and infrastructure networks connecting Asia with Europe and Africa along the ancient Silk Road trade routes.

As a supplement, China also proposed the AIIB in 2013 to support the building of infrastructure in the Asia-Pacific region. The bank currently has 86 member states.

Schneider pointed out that China has always been a very good partner. He said when many of other European countries want to protect the economies against Chinese investors, Luxembourg has always kept its doors open.

"We never try to avoid Chinese investment in Luxembourg. The opposite is the case. We’re coming to China to find investors which might use Luxembourg as their European hub, as their gateway to Europe," he said.

China and Luxembourg have enjoyed very tight links in trade and investment. The Bank of China has been operating in Luxembourg for 35 years. When the bank first went to the Grand Duchy in 1979, it was the very first Chinese bank to set up a branch outside China. Schneider said that’s the proof of mutual trust and understanding.

World Insight With Tian Wei is a 45-minutes global affairs and debate show on CGTN. It airs weekdays at 10:15 p.m. BJT(1415GMT) with rebroadcasts at 4:15 a.m. BJT(20:15GMT).