Xi made the pledge when making a five-point proposal aimed at promoting interconnected development in the Asia-Pacific region as he met with leaders of Bangladesh, Cambodia, Laos, Mongolia, Myanmar, Pakistan and Tajikistan.

Also attending the meeting were representatives of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

The new Silk Road Fund will be used to provide investment and financing support to carry out infrastructure, resources, industrial cooperation, financial cooperation and other projects related to connectivity for countries along the "Belt and Road", Xi said, referring to China’s Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road initiatives.

He added that the fund will be "open" to active participation by investors from both within and outside of Asia.

According to Xi, the goal of the new Silk Road Fund is to "break the bottleneck in Asian connectivity by building a financing platform."

The Chinese President said funding stands out as the most challenging issue in Asia’s connectivity development.

"To address these and other problems, the efforts by a single or several countries are far from adequate," said Xi.

"Only by building extensive partnerships where all will think and work in unison, can we expect to achieve positive results," he said.