The Belt and Road Initiative at the Crossroads

Abstract

This special Issue of the Global Trade and Customs Journal showcases a wide range of scholarly contributions to one of the most ambitious projects of the twenty-first century. In 2013, the Chinese Government launched the One Belt One Road Initiative (OBOR), now referred to as the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI); a highly ambitious infrastructure project that aims to link China physically and financially to Asia, Europe, Africa, and Oceania. It covers 30% of global gross domestic product (GDP), 62% of the population, and 75% of known energy reserves, offering a trading route, which has a potential to be the world's largest platform for regional collaboration. It has opened a new market to China and certainly spurs the economy in general. The initiative aims to establish and develop trading partners for the future through connectivity and infrastructure, where trade continues to be a driving force. Many countries have shown interest in joining the initiative because it will strengthen their financial capacity and connections with China and other regions. It is also true that the importance of the initiative is not only from a trade or an investment point of view, but also from the foreign and economic policy perspective: it is of geopolitical interest.

Keywords: Belt and Road Initiative, China, Investment, Development, Infrastructure, developing countries, Asia, intellectual property