Tag: One Belt One Road

Yuanben and Maritime Silk Road Platform signed the "Blockchain Technical Service Cooperation Agreement". This agreement will provide blockchain services for global maritime freight, ensuring the safety of sea-going cargo transportation for the Maritime Silk Road. 

The world's largest container ship, 'COSCO Libra', began its maiden voyage as it departed the Port of Tianjin on on July 20, heading to Europe. The vessel is 400 meters long and 58.6 meters wide with a maximum draft of 16 meters, with a maximum sailing speed of up to 22.5 nautical miles per hour.

Germany's Commerzbank and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China signed a Memorandum of Understanding to support projects linked to the Belt and Road Initiative. Commerzbank economists expect Foreign Direct Investment from China to BRI countries to have doubled to USD25 bn by 2020.

Since the initial proposal of the “21st-Century Maritime Silk Road” concept by China in October 2013, it has received positive responses from many countries around the world; and route network for the maritime silk road has become more distinct, argue Xinhua and The Baltic Exchange in their latest ISCD report.

On July 6, China's Premier Li Keqiang met with Croatia's Prime Minister Andrej Plenković in Sofia. The two discussed possible cooperation of the two countries in infrastructure projects, including  ports. China wants to support Croatia by taking part in the construction of ports other transportation infrastructures.

The Belt and Road Initiative is increasing transport connections between Asia and Europe, causing changes to the international trade. Trade between the two continents accounts for more than a quarter of world trade, so better connections and the lower trade costs could result in a significant global impact, a report by ING says.

Despite being the world’s fifth busiest container port, Hong Kong encounters a keen competition from other maritime clusters, according to a paper released by the Financial Services Development Council. The paper examines Hong Kong’s strengths and weaknesses in this global competition and recommends strategies for growth.

The Afro-Asian Economic Council informed that it will launch a development project, aiming to connect Egypt and other North African countries to China’s Belt and Road Initiative. This projects aspired to improve Egypt’s position as strategic navigational and land corridor in the world.

On Saturday 12 May, the first Silk Road train destined for Antwerp has arrived. The freight train, which had left the Chinese port of Tangshan on 26 April, links China and Antwerp as part of the transnational Chinese ‘Belt and Road Initiative’, with which China seeks to revive the trade routes of the old Silk Road from Asia to Europe.

China's imports from countries that are located along the "Belt and Road", have increased faster that the exports, this happened for the first time in 2017. The value of China's imports from Belt and Road countries reached $666 billion in 2017, which represents an increase of 20%, or 39% of China's total imports value