China has invested more than $50 billion in the countries along the Silk Road after the Belt and Road Initiative was proposed in 2013, a senior official said revealed on Monday.

The Silk Road project has received support from more than 100 countries and international organizations. Of which, about 50 cooperation agreements were signed between governments, He Lifeng, head of the National Development and Reform Commission, said.

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He further noted that developments under the project were "better than expected." The country has launched a $40 billion Silk Road fund to finance the projects.

China aims to improve its connection through trading goods and services with the rest of the world under the Silk Road initiative.

China is set to conduct a high-level forum about the Belt and Road Initiative in Beijing this May. Meanwhile, He also defended that China's move to cut down growth rate by 6.5 percent in 2017 is necessary and achievable, citing job creation as an important goal for China.

"According to our experience, each one percentage point of GDP growth will help create about 1.7 million jobs," he said. Premier Li Keqiang also noted that China is less likely to meet its job creation target of more than 11 million if it does not attain quality growth at a reasonable level.

Although India is part of the road projects called Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar (BCIM) economic corridor, New Delhi has protested to China over the $46 billion China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). It also expressed concerns that the 21^st century Maritime Silk Road, which is part of the "One Belt, One Road" project, will have an impact on the Indian Ocean.

TagsSilk Road, Belt and Road Initiative, china