Belt, Road 'beyond expectations'

Quick development paves way for strengthening initiative, official says

The development of the Belt and Road Initiative has exceeded expectations, and China is more determined to strengthen the initiative, China's top publicity official said on Monday.

"Since the proposal of the initiative in 2013, the development has been fast and comprehensive. The speed and the achievement are beyond expectations," Liu Qibao, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and head of the committee's publicity department, said at the opening of the International Seminar on the Belt and Road Initiative in Xi'an, Shaanxi province.