“One Belt, One Road” is a Chinese development strategy launched at the end of 2013 that focuses on connectivity and cooperation among countries primarily in Eurasia. It has two main components, namely the land-based “Silk Road Economic Belt” and the ocean-going “Maritime Silk Road.” Antwerp has a potentially very important role to play in both these routes as a major trading hub, and so the Port Authority is setting up a special taskforce for this purpose, the company said in its press release.
The importance of this project for Europe can hardly be underestimated, and so during the recent state visit to China by king Philippe of Belgium the country applied to join the new Asian Infrastructure Development Bank, the investment bank behind the strategy.
Joining the Asian Infrastructure Development Bank is also very significant for the port of Antwerp, which for many years now has put great efforts into expanding its market share in China. The Chinese president Xi Jiping last week told his Belgian visitors – who included Marc Van Peel and Eddy Bruyninckx, respectively chairman and CEO of Antwerp Port Authority – that Antwerp has an important role to play in developing a “New Silk Road” linking the Europe and the Middle East with the economic centres of China and other countries in South-East Asia and around the Indian Ocean. In order for Antwerp to play this role correctly a “One Belt One Road” taskforce is being set up this month within the Port Authority.
One Belt One Road
The One Belt One Road project announced at the end of 2013 seeks to connect China’s main industrial cities with trading centres elsewhere in Asia, the Middle East and Europe. The project encompasses a rail route which roughly follows the historic Silk Road and a maritime route that covers South East Asia and the countries around the Indian Ocean. Infrastructure work for this project will be financed by among others the new Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.