Dmitry Pankin: Enhancing transport infrastructure is of common interest to the One Belt, One Road initiative and the EAEU

Boao, 24 March 2017. Creating effective transport infrastructure is the key area of common interest to the One Belt, One Road initiative and the Eurasian Economic Union. Dmitry Pankin, Chairman of the Management Board at Eurasian Development Bank (EDB), told this at the Boao Forum for Asia’s Annual Conference Globalisation & Free Trade: The Asian Perspectives held from 23 to 26 March in Boao, China.

Dmitry Pankin emphasised that physical links between the EAEU member countries and China should be expanded significantly to unlock the potential of internal regions. He added that the Silk Road project was not only about transcontinental transit, but aimed, in the first place, to expand inter-regional ties on the Eurasian continent. The head of EDB explained that the future of regions such as Western China, Middle Asia and Russia’s Urals, Siberia and Far East relied heavily on improved access to markets.  Dmitry Pankin also said that the Silk Road project would be of greatest benefit to the EAEU countries if it met their key needs, such as promoting innovative and competitive production centres, advancing small and medium-sized businesses, and fostering regional development. He added that transport infrastructure development in landlocked countries was of special importance.  

The head of EDB also stated that the private sector needed to be involved in the One Belt, One Road initiative. He explained that the government played a decisive part in the development of infrastructure (motor and rail roads) within the main corridor, while the private sector was involved to develop various parts of the accompanying infrastructure. 

The speaker emphasised the importance of the EAEU countries to the Silk Road. He said, however, that the EAEU countries needed to solve a number of restrictions concerning transit, including the limited capacity of the routes, their weak infrastructure and the low level of container traffic.

Dmitry Pankin also noted that the One Road, One Belt project paid increasing attention to Trans-Eurasian transport corridors crossing the continent from the East to the West, while the meridional, North-South corridors should also be developed. The development of these corridors would help to build effective logistics between the Eurasian Union and the Near East countries, unleash the potential of the transit countries, and supplement the East-West corridors by enhancing their effectiveness as part of the Silk Road.

The Boao Forum for Asia’s Annual Conference is a yearly event aimed at developing coordination and cooperation between Asian countries, enhancing dialogue and economic ties with other regions of the world, and creating a platform for dialogue on economic, social and other issues between officials, businesspeople, experts and researchers.