BAKU — China will not impose any values on countries along the routes of the Belt and Road Initiative, a Chinese senior economist said here on May 7.

China and countries along the Belt and Road, an initiative to enhance international connectivity, have cultural differences, but they are same in pursuing development, cooperation and peace, said Zhang Yansheng, secretary-general of the academic committee of the National Development and Reform Commission of China.

Zhang said that China will respect the political systems, culture diversities and choices of people in these countries, rather than influence them with its own values in the implementation of the initiative.

China, the economist said, will share development achievements with countries from Central Asia to the South Caucasus region, which will bring benefit to local people.

He noted that trade between China and Belt and Road countries reached $236 billion and total investment reached more than $2.5 billion in the first quarter of 2015.

The Belt and Road refers to the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, the international trade and infrastructure projects proposed by China.

The Belt is an overland network bringing together China, Central Asia, Russia and Europe, linking China with the Gulf and the Mediterranean, and connecting China with Southeast Asia, South Asia and the Indian Ocean.

The Road is a maritime network designed to link China’s coast to Europe through the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean in one route, and China’s coast to the South Pacific through the South China Sea in another.