Key accord will help resolve funding

China signed off on an agreement in Beijing on Sunday with 26 countries to improve policy coordination and jointly address the pressing challenges of a financing gap for projects under the Belt and Road Initiative.

The agreement-known as the Financing Guidelines for the Belt and Road Initiative aims to create a long-term and stable financing mechanism to break a "funding bottleneck" for the development of the initiative, said Finance Minister Xiao Jie.

"The financing bottleneck is a key challenge for the development of the Belt and Road Initiative," Xiao said in a speech at the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation.