

The first YXE international container train travelling from China's Yiwu to Iran's Teheran as part of "The Silk Road Economic Belt" and "The 21st Century Maritime Silk Road" strategy, also known as "One Belt, One Road", departs from a container terminal in Yiwu city, east China's Zhejiang province, 28 January 2016. [Photo: ImagineChina]
A new review is suggesting the Chinese government's "Belt and Road" initiative has made progress over the past year.
Stats from countries officially involved in the Chinese program show the total volume of bilateral trade those countries and China hit 995 billion U.S. dollars last year.
That makes up around one-quarter of all of China's overall trade volume.
Chinese Commerce Ministry spokesperson Shen Danyang.
"We have established more than 50 overseas trade cooperation zones with respective countries. The China-Belarus Industrial Zone, Thai-Chinese Rayong Industrial Zone and China-Indonesia Comprehensive Industrial Zone in particular have attained considerable and effective progress and become important media for Chinese companies to go out as groups and promote international capacity and equipment manufacturing cooperation with relevant countries."
The same review also shows Chinese companies have invested over 2 billion US dollars in "Belt and Road" countries last year, an over 40-percent increase year on year.
At the same time, around one-billion US dollars’ worth of investment from those countries has flowed into China through last year, up over 5-percent.
With the "Belt and Road" initiative making strides over this pear year, a leading Chinese credit rating agency is looking to help companies make better investment decisions when it comes to infrastructure.
Dagong International has established a global infrastructure credit rating system to asses which countries are more risky than others when it comes to investment in infrastructure.
The move is part of a global push by world leaders to establish a stronger credit rating system around the world.
To that end, CRI's Liu Kun spoke with former French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, who is among a group trying to push forward credit rating development worldwide.
The evolution of J-10 fighter
Top 10 Asian beauties in 2016
Train rides through blossoms
HD pictures of battleships of PLA Navy
East Sea Fleet conducts combat drills
Sophie Marceau goes square dancing in Guangzhou
Police officers learn Wing Chun in E. China
Charming models compete in super model contest in Beijing
Beauties wearing Tang dynasty costume pick tea leaves
Top 20 hottest women in the world in 2014
Top 10 hardest languages to learn
10 Chinese female stars with most beautiful faces
China’s Top 10 Unique Bridges, Highways and Roads
My tiger mother controlled me with Chinese food
Shanghai court finds against maternity tourism company
Pranks under fire after video of celeb wedding shows actress harassment
For foreigners, Chinese talent and reality shows offer a chance to hit it bigDay|Week