Multinationals invited to join Belt and Road Initiative

China welcomes multinational development organizations to join the Belt and Road Initiative, which President Xi Jinping introduced five years ago, the nation economists said in Tokyo on Monday.

China has signed memorandums of understanding on cooperation with six multinational development organizations including the World Bank and the Japan-led Asia Development Bank, encouraging them to participate in the initiative, said Zhou Qiangwu, director general of International Economics and Finance Institute of the Ministry of Finance.

Zhou was speaking at a discussion with the Japan Business Federation, also known as Keidanren. The federation has been Japan's most powerful business lobby, and its head is often dubbed "the prime minister of the business world".