“In accordance with President Xi’s instructions, we will build the Sihanoukville Special Economic Zone (SSEZ) into a pro-people project,” said Zhou Haijiang, board chairman of HOdo at a symposium.

He added that no difficulty can baffle the SSEZ during its development as long as it benefits people who live along the belt and road.

HOdo adheres to the concept of “all-win of shareholders, employees, clients, suppliers, partners, governments, environment and the society”. Currently, the zone has attracted 102 companies from China, Japan, the United States and Europe.

It is the most successful one among the first batch of the eight overseas industrial parks, including those in Russia, Pakistan and Thailand that were approved by China's commerce and finance ministries in 2006.

However, it is interests that drive private enterprises go global, so they should make long-term arrangement in terms of technology and criterions, instead of following like sheep, said Li Yingqiu, director of the Center for Private Economy Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences,

The former vice-minister of the Ministry of Commerce Wei Jianguo said that the Belt and Road Initiative is China’s third reform and opening-up, which will bring unprecedented opportunities to private enterprises.

The Belt and Road Initiative is a development strategy proposed in 2013, which aims at boosting connectivity and cooperation among countries primarily between China and the rest of Eurasia, which consists of two main components, the land-based "Silk Road Economic Belt" and oceangoing "Maritime Silk Road".