NEW YORK－The Belt and Road Initiative fulfills the spirit of the United Nations Charter, says a longtime member of the Schiller Institute, a political and economic think tank in Germany.

The UN Charter affirms the equal rights of all nations, no matter big or small, said the institute's representative at the UN, Richard Black.

The BRI is an exemplar of the way in which a big country such as China can work with "nations across Southeast Asia, South America, Africa, and treat them as equal partners, because the process is win-win", Black said.

The BRI is the great lifter of countries out of poverty in the 21st century, Black said, and Article 55 of the UN Charter outlines that the "conditions of stability and well-being" among nations demand "higher standards of living, full employment and conditions of economic and social progress and development".

China's victory against absolute poverty is an astounding achievement for mankind and "is one that I think is not appreciated enough at the UN", Black said.

The Maritime Silk Road, one of the two arms of the BRI, is extremely important for world peace, he said.

In the past few weeks of turmoil and transition in Afghanistan, fertilizer has been coming into the port of Gwadar of Pakistan along the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and making its way safely to farmers in Afghanistan, Black said.

"When we look at the Maritime Silk Road, it is a way of connecting the world land bridge through all the continents, a key component, and it is functioning quite well."

China's rebound in exports benefits from the country's foresight in taking the long-term approach embodied in the BRI, Black said.

The ability of China to bounce back so quickly, he said, was the result not only of "its very wise and strict public health measures, but (also because) the basis of the BRI is very, very wise".

Xinhua