Project Finance

CHAPTER 9China's Belt and Road Initiative

BACKGROUND AND SCOPE OF THE BELT AND ROAD INITIATIVE

China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) represents one of the most ambitious and transformational infrastructure programs ever undertaken with the potential to reshape the 21st-century economy. Formerly known as the One Belt One Road project (rebranded BRI in 2016), the BRI was first set out by President Xi Jinping in a 2013 speech in Kazakhstan in which he referred to the idea of reconstituting the ancient Silk Road trading route into a modern trans-Eurasian “land belt” connecting and integrating China with Central Asia spanning all the way from the Pacific Ocean to the Baltic Sea. It would herald the revival of the historic Silk Road trading route connecting China with Central Asia, the Middle East, and Europe and represents the centerpiece of China's global ambitions for President Xi's administration. The ancient Silk Road was an extensive network of land and maritime trade routes formally established under the Chinese Han Dynasty (206 BC–220 AD). The trade route originated in the east of China and connected the Eurasia continent via Central Asia to the Mediterranean and Europe. The BRI's focus is on physical infrastructure investment encompassing ports, railways, roads, power plants, aviation, and telecommunications as a way to close the infrastructure gap and foster closer trade and economic cooperation and integration. A month later, in October 2013, President Xi expanded on ...