Britain calls China's BRI a 'vision', offers financing expertise

Britain is eager to forge closer ties with Beijing

Britain is committed to help realise the potential of China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), British finance minister Philip Hammond said on Friday, describing the policy as a "vision".

Speaking at a summit in Beijing on China's programme to re-create the old Silk Road joining China with Asia and Europe, Hammond said the BRI must work for everyone for it to turn into a sustainable reality and he offered British expertise in project financing.

"The Belt and Road Initiative has tremendous potential to spread prosperity and sustainable development, touching as it does, potentially 70 per cent of the world's population, a project