A research project commissioned by the Yangtze River Economic Belt Development Research Center of the Counselors’ Office of the State Council has found that it is of great significance to develop key nodes along the Yangtze River Economic Belt to support the Belt and Road Initiative. The researchers put forward the following recommendations：to adopt a tiered and systemic approach to developing the key nodes supporting the Belt and Road Initiative；to advance the development of domestic and international backbone transport links；to move forward with the development of overseas zones for economic and trade cooperation in the countries covered by the Belt and Road Initiative；and to boost opening-up based on rules and related institutions.