Thank you for joining us, we are closing our live coverage as the last day of China's Belt and Road Forum winds down. Here's a summary of events:

• Xi Jinping delivered the keynote address where he positioned the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) as an alternative to Western-led globalisation
• The BRI 'transcends differences between cultures, civilisations and stages of development', he said
• Vladimir Putin heaped praise on the BRI, saying "our Chinese friends did it".
• Putin was on a rare trip abroad, and in a country where he did not risk getting arrested for alleged war crimes due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine
• By sharing the spotlight with Putin at a global summit, Xi affirmed his support for the Russian leader
• Putin and Xi held a bilateral meeting after the BRI summit ceremonies at the Great Hall of the People
• Xi hosted several world leaders who are part of the BRI, spanning Asia, Africa, Europe and South America
• UN chief Antonio Guterres also spoke at the summit and called for measures to prevent developing countries from accumulating unsustainable debt
• Countries like Sri Lanka and Zambia have struggled to pay debt owed to Chinese builders
• We've received word that Putin and China's top diplomat, Wang Yi, are due to hold press conferences later in the day. Please check the BBC News website and app for updates.

From Singapore, I am Joel Guinto with my colleagues Derek Cai, Tessa Wong, Nicole Ng and Ian Tang.

China's economic footprint in Cambodia now dwarfs that of any other country. It provides half of all direct investments in the South East Asian nation and most of its foreign aid.

Cambodia is an enthusiastic partner in the Belt and Road Initiative.

The Dara Sakor Seashore Resort in the country's south is a grandiose $3.8b (£3.1b) scheme by a Chinese company to build a tourist city complete with an international airport, casinos and luxury villas.

But 15 years after it started, the airport is unfinished. A single casino attached to a hotel and apartments sits near the sea, surrounded by a construction site.

As a tourist business it has barely gotten started, but the project has had a damaging impact on one of Asia's richest natural environments and the thousands of people who live there.

Read more about this and other shadowy Chinese firms that own chunks of Cambodia, from our colleagues Lulu Luo and Jonathan Head.

Image source, Getty Images

Our correspondent Nikhil Inamdar travelled to Sri Lanka to check out some of the China-funded BRI projects.

This airport is one of them.

Putin has accepted invitations from the leaders of Thailand and Vietnam to visit their countries at the sidelines of the summit.

Vietnam has maintained balmy ties with Russia since days of the Soviet Union. President Vo Van Thuong said Putin accepted his invitation "happily" and will visit Vietnam soon.

Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin said: "President Putin likes Phuket, I understand he travels often," refrerring to the popular resort island.

No dates have been set for either of those visits. As we've reported, Russia's invasion of Ukraine has led to very few places to which Putin can travel.

The International Criminal Court earlier this year issued an arrest warrant for Putin over the alleged deportation of thousands of Ukrainian children to Russia.

Neither Thailand nor Vietnam are state parties to the ICC Rome Statute.

Nick Marsh
in Jakarta

Image source, EPA

When you’re on Whoosh - South-East Asia’s first high speed rail line - you notice a few things.

Firstly, a few conspicuous Chinese engineers dotted around the carriages, which are otherwise filled with Indonesians. Secondly, many of the Indonesian passengers look older and, on appearance, more affluent than a lot of people you see in Jakarta.

This project has not been without controversy and high on the list is ticket prices. A journey between Jakarta and Bandung costs 300,000 Indonesian rupiah ($19; £15.68), which is five times more expensive than taking the bus. I also found out - from personal experience - that the train doesn’t actually take you to Bandung city centre. You actually end up in a suburb nearly an hour away.

“Too expensive” was one person’s verdict at the station.“Maybe it’s good for business people, but not for us,” said another.

The Indonesian government admits that even in the best case scenario, Whoosh will take decades to break even. On top of this, the project is three years late and nearly $2bn over budget.

This certainly isn't the first public project in the world to run into trouble, but Indonesia's government has been criticised by some here for allowing China to dictate the terms.

Stephen McDonell
China correspondent

Image source, Reuters

Xi Jinping has used a gathering of governments supporting his Belt and Road Initiative to oppose the concept of global economic “decoupling” and support his key ally Vladimir Putin - whose country has become isolated on the world stage following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

With Vladimir Putin in the audience, Xi said his country opposed “unilateral sanctions” and “economic coercion” - while characterising the BRI as the opposite of this.

He said his global transport infrastructure push had moved from “blueprints” to “real projects” to boost the world’s flow of goods.

For Russia’s leader, overseas trips have been few and far between after an international arrest warrant was placed on him, accusing him of illegally deporting children from Ukraine.

So he’s made the most of his attendance at this Forum to meet at least nine foreign leaders including those from Thailand, Vietnam, Pakistan, Hungary, and of course, China's Xi.

Read more from Stephen here.

China's roads win hearts in South Asia - but at a costpublished at 08:41 British Summer Time 18 October 2023

08:41 BST 18 October 2023

Suranjana Tewari
Asia business reporter

Image source, Getty Images

For evidence of both the positive and negative impact of the Belt and Road initiative, look no further than the countries from South Asia that signed on.

Experts point out that roads, ports and bridges that otherwise would not have been built have provided livelihoods for people in Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal and continue to lift the economic prospects of these developing nations.

On the other hand, not all projects have been successful and these countries now face deep economic challenges; Sri Lanka defaulted on its debt earlier this year, and Pakistan only just avoided default, plagued by high inflation, low growth and a weak currency. Both countries are trying to restructure their debt, much of which is owed to China, in order to secure bailouts from the International Monetary Fund.

That said, China's influence in the region has prompted "healthy" geopolitical competition, according to experts, with the European Union, India, Japan and the United States investing and offering promising development solutions.

Read more here.

Chinese state media has reported that Putin has left the Great Hall of the People, where the summit and his meeting with Xi was held.

It's unclear where Putin is now headed but he is scheduled for a news conference in about 30 minutes.

We'll bring you more updates as we know them. Watch this space.

Beijing's trillion-dolllar experiment has created a powerful toolpublished at 08:24 British Summer Time 18 October 2023

08:24 BST 18 October 2023

Tessa Wong
Asia Digital Reporter

In white papers released this month, Beijing spelt out its vision citing the BRI and three other “global initiatives”. It argues it would be fairer, more inclusive and less judgmental than the globalisation led by "hegemonic" Western powers which seek a "zero-sum game".

"The BRI is a public road open to all, not a private path owned by any single party," it said. Far from seeking domination as critics say, China claims it is "helping others to succeed while seeking our own success".

The view from China is that "now globalisation is in danger. The West, in the name of 'de-risking', is actually 'de-China-risking'," Wang Yiwei, a Chinese professor who studies the BRI, told me.

Beijing's trillion-dollar experiment has created a powerful tool to wield influence. But the question is whether the world wants a Chinese-led world order.

Read more from Tessa’s BRI analysis

Annabelle Liang
BBC News, Business reporter

The list of countries indebted to China is growing.

China is catching up with organisations like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund in terms of lending to the developing world, reports say.

Much of the lending took place under the sprawling BRI.

Some borrowers like Zambia and Sri Lanka have defaulted on their debts. Pressure is mounting on China to strike off some loans.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres pointed to this during his speech at the BRI forum. He called for mechanisms to prevent countries from being locked in unsustainable debt.

However, this is a difficult consideration for China, as local governments across the country have accumulated debt of their own, says Mattie Bekink from the Economist Intelligence Corporate Network.

“Cognisant of China’s overall slowdown and muted growth outlook, looking forward there will be a tightening of the belt, so to speak,” she adds.

Our Asia Business Correspondent Nick Marsh explains in this short video.

The first section of Kenya's Chinese-built railway opened with much fanfare in 2017. The intent was to reach Uganda, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo but two years later, work on the tracks have stalled in the middle of the country.

Still, the railway - which now runs from the port city of Mombasa to the capital Nairobi - is popular among passengers, who get the bonus of watching wildlife as it cuts through national parks.

But Kenya has been left servicing loans totaling around $4.7bn (£3.9bn), mainly borrowed from Chinese banks.

Here's more on the project from our Senior Africa correspondent Anne Soy, who also dives into how China's massive BRI initiative has stretched across Africa.

Image source, Getty Images

The third Belt and Road Forum is in full swing.

Here are some photos to show you how the opening ceremony unfolded.

Image source, Reuters

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Derek Cai
Live page reporter, BBC News

Image source, Getty Images

Xi and Putin often attend each other's important events. But the BRI Forum is also a rare chance for Putin to travel overseas, now that he is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes over Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

China, which is Russia's closest major ally, is one of the few places in the world where Putin cannot be arrested as Beijing is not a state party to the statute of the ICC.

Putin is also keen on showing support to China. In his speech at the opening of the summit today, Putin spent a considerable amount of time praising Xi for the successes of the Belt and Road Initiative, saying "our Chinese friends did it".

"I wouldn't say that Russia is a big part of the BRI," Alexandra Prokopenko, a non-resident scholar at the Carnegie Russia-Eurasia Center in Berlin.

"Putin is doing this mostly as a favour for his partner and of course it's also a message that Russia is not in isolation," Prokopenko told the BBC's World Business Report.

China is pouring money into BRI projects in Central Asia, Russia's economic backyard. But there shouldn't be any contradictions there, according to Putin who has said there is a "certain synergy" between China and Russia.

Nikhil Inamdar
in Sri Lanka

Image source, BBC/Nikhil Inamdar

In many ways Sri Lanka is the poster child for the good and the bad of China’s Belt and Road initiative.

It lies at the crossroads of competing global ambitions of China, India and the US.

Such live wire geopolitics has at least partially informed the "debt trap diplomacy" narrative that's dominated headlines on BRI.

The theory, which most studies have debunked, suggests Beijing has saddled nations like Sri Lanka with enormous debt on unsustainable projects, taking control of them when the recipient couldn't pay back loans.

The Hambantota port on Sri Lanka's southern tip is often used as an example to push this theory. Sri Lanka had to lease it out to China for 99 years.

But it was hardly a grand design by Beijing as Sri Lanka failed to plan the projects well enough to ensure returns, says Ganeshan Wignaraja of ODI global affairs think-tank..

"Chequered" would be the best way to describe BRI's legacy in the country, he adds. This is because it has also delivered outright successes in Sri Lanka, he says.

Over half of the country's freeways are also built by China, significantly improving internal connectivity - and I'm travelling on one as I write this.

Image source, Reuters

It's just after 13:00 in Beijing (05:00 GMT/06:00 BST) where the third Belt and Road summit has officially kicked off.

Here's everything you need to know about what's unfolded so far:

• International guests and delegates - including Russian President Putin - arrived at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing for the opening ceremony
• President Xi, as host, took a group photo with all the leaders present at the summit
• In his opening speech, Xi compared the initiative to the ancient Silk Road, and positioned the BRI as an alternative to western-led economic frameworks
• Xi said, in a thinly-veiled jab at the West, that "treating others as a risk will not make your life better or develop faster"
• Putin also spoke at the conference, in which he outlined Russia's economic strategy and spent a considerable amount of time praising China for its progress on the BRI projects
• In a bilateral meeting between Xi and Putin after the opening ceremony, the Russian leader said: "Political coordination is neccesary in current difficult time."
• Putin is expected to give a press conference at the end of his visit to China at 16:00 local time

Nick Marsh
in Jakarta

This week I took one of the first rides on South East Asia’s fastest train.

The appropriately named Whoosh hits a top speed of 350km/h (217mph) and connects the Indonesian capital Jakarta with Bandung. It’s a smooth, sleek operation that turns a three-hour journey into 45 minutes.

All around me, I saw smiling faces. Many people were dressed in traditional batik shirts, which are usually worn on formal occasions. One man told me he was “so proud” that Indonesia was only the third country in Asia, after Japan and China, to have a high-speed rail line.

Officials from Tokyo had actually started coming here as early as 2009 with an offer to build this line. So it was a shock when the Indonesian government announced they were going with a counter bid from China.

For a long time, Indonesia's viewed Chinese influence with suspicion. But with a population of 250 million, vast natural resources and a government hungry to industrialise, it's a prime candidate for more Belt and Road investment.

Whoosh is testament not just to Chinese engineering but also a vote of confidence in Beijing.

Xi affirms Putin support by sharing BRI limelightpublished at 05:44 British Summer Time 18 October 2023

05:44 BST 18 October 2023

Tessa Wong
Asia Digital Reporter

While the BRI is Xi Jinping’s signature policy, it is striking to see how he is sharing the summit’s limelight with Vladimir Putin, with whom Xi famously declared he had a “no limits friendship”.

Evidently the biggest VIP in the BRI party, Putin entered the summit hall shoulder-to-shoulder with Xi. He was front and centre along with the Chinese president for the group photo op, and was second to speak after Xi.

All these things happened as well in previous Belt and Road summits – but those took place before Russia began its war on Ukraine.

China since then has come under criticism from the West for standing by Russia, even as it has also tried to show support for Ukraine. By rolling out the red carpet for Putin this week, it is reaffirming this support.

Putin is clearly keen on returning the favour. Mindful not to upstage Beijing in his speech, he effusively praised China for its achievements in the BRI and pledged support for the initiative, saying it was “in tune with Russian ideas”.

“We have repeatedly pointed out that Russia and China and the majority of states in the world share aspirations for mutual cooperation, for comprehensive and sustainable economic progress, and social well-being,” he said.

His presence could be seen as Moscow’s wish to play a key role in the new world order China is advocating . But it also stokes fears that the two major powers are building their own bloc to rival the West.

Additional research by BBC Monitoring.

Last night, Xi welcomed world leaders attending the Belt and Road Summit at the Great Hall of the People.

Annabelle Liang
BBC News, Business reporter

Chinese shares fell even as the country's achievements took centre stage at the BRI forum.Earlier in the day, official data showed that the world's second largest economy was growing at a faster-than-expected pace.

However, the Shanghai Composite index was 0.6% lower at mid-day.

While banks made slight gains, shares of construction giants China Communications Construction Company and China Railway Construction were around 1% lower.

"The drag from property and housing is a heavy weight on the economy and domestic financial markets, and is likely to persist for some time," Alvin Tan from investment firm RBC Capital Markets said in a note.