Xi also sent a congratulatory message to the Belt and Road News Network First Council Meeting, which was held in Beijing on Tuesday. He called on participating media outlets to tell the stories of the initiative in a way that shapes favorable public opinion about BRI cooperation.

The news network is a nongovernmental, nonprofit organization.

Meanwhile, the English and French versions of a collection of Xi Jinping's speeches and writings on the BRI, edited by the Institute of Party History and Literature of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, were published on Wednesday.

Cai Hong, Cao Desheng and Zhao Lei contributed to this story.