The New Silk Road – Analysis of the Potential of New Eurasian Transport Corridors

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to investigate the potential of the Chinese initiative The New Silk Route (NSR) comprising two transport routes: railway and maritime, linking Europe and Asia. In the paper the NSR was analysed from the perspective of: potential benefits from countries’ participation in NSR and challenges that NSR will have to face to become a well performing transport corridor. The authors point out that the NSR is going to be a logistic corridor that is to influence transport and supply chains and determine the position of participating countries in international division of labour.

Analysis of Enterrelation Between Economic, Road, Transport and Logistic Indicators

“…Sapienza University, Rome, Italy; 4 German Kazakh University, Almaty, Kazakhstan. E-mail: taisarinova@gmail.com, bagdatbt@yahoo.com, giuseppe.loprencipe@uniroma1.it, nailya.73@mail.ru…”

China Belt and Road Initiative: Measuring the impact of improving transportation connectivity on trade in the region

“…The interconnection, interoperability, legal liability and route capacity of the BRI will also pose important challenges, with differences in border crossing procedures and inefficient customs clearance procedures (Lehmacher et al 2017) across state territories potentially leading to inconsistent standards, infrastructure gaps and missing transport links between nodes (Nazarko et al 2016). These inconsistencies not only create delays, but also open up the system to manipulation (Lehmacher et al 2017).…”

“…Although such efforts are not unprecedented, other previous transport and economic corridor projects between Europe and Asia -such as the Transport Corridor Europe-Caucasus-Asia (TRACECA) or the Central Asia Regional Cooperation (CAREC) Program -have not been ascribed the same potential as the BRI, which can perhaps be attributed to poor coordination (Nazarko et al 2016).…”

“…This includes the new Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and the Silk Road Fund (SRF), the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), which China has recently joined (Nazarko et al 2016), the Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) New Development Bank and the proposed Shanghai Cooperation Organization Bank (Lim 2015). The AIIB is predominantly funded by China but with the help of regional and non-regional stakeholders (Das 2017).…”

Comparative Analysis of the Eastern European Countries as Participants of the New Silk Road

“…The Chinese initiative of the One Belt One Road (OBOR), which is often referred to as the New Silk Road (NSR), is perceived as an opportunity to revitalise economies of the participating countries (Ejdys 2017). The momentum of the concept and the fact that at least 60 countries (Nazarko et al 2016) are likely to participate in it necessitate a research of the NSR impact on some of the countries. not the others.…”