EDB: The Silk Road Economic Belt project to create additional opportunities for the EEU

Moscow, 1 June 2016. The Silk Road Economic Belt (SREB) project can create additional opportunities for the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) in eastern directions, including the Asian Pacific Region (APR). Yaroslav Lissovolik, Chief Economic at Eurasian Development Bank (EDB), stated this at the plenary session on New Security Challenges for Russia and China of the International Conference Russia and China: Taking on New Quality of Bilateral Relations in Moscow. The speaker said that these opportunities for the EEU could arise from new economic agreements with ASEAN countries.

He explained that economic alliances with the dynamically developing APR region would be a natural consequence of the EEU's participation in the SREB project. After negotiations on the free trade zone of the EEU and Vietnam conclude, consultations will begin on the creation of free trade zones with other ASEAN countries (during the recent Russia–ASEAN Summit five ASEAN countries expressed interest in establishing free trade zones). "This, in turn, will create significant potential for the Silk Road Economic Belt initiative in terms of bringing together integration projects in the triangle by enhancing trade and investment cooperation, and by developing infrastructure," Yaroslav Lissovolik pointed out.

An important aspect of cooperation between the SREB initiative and the EEU is the evolution of 'catching-up' countries such as Russia and China, he emphasised. The speaker also said that for China this initiative would promote development in its western regions while for Russia the linking of the SREB project and the EEU would help to speed up developments in the Far East. This will possibly help to balance Russia and China's development to a greater extent, since a wider range of regional growth tools will be used, including cross-border cooperation and the establishment of free trade zones, he added.  

The International Conference Russia and China: Taking on New Quality of Bilateral Relations took place in Moscow on 30-31 May 2016. It was organised by the Russian International Affairs Council in the run-up to President of Russia Vladimir Putin's visit to China. Conference participants included Russian and Chinese political and public leaders and representatives of businesses. They discussed the most pressing problems and the most effective forms of bilateral cooperation.

The SREB project intends to build a single Eurasian trade and economic space and a transcontinental corridor. Its objective is to boost cooperation in research and technology and enhance economic ties between the countries. The project was proposed by President of the People's Republic of China Xi Jinping during his official visit to Kazakhstan in the autumn of 2013.

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Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) is an international financial institution founded by Russia and Kazakhstan in January 2006 with the mission to facilitate the development of market economies, sustainable economic growth, and the expansion of mutual trade and other economic ties in its member states. EDB's charter capital totals US $7 billion. The member states of the Bank are the Republic of Armenia, the Republic of Belarus, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Russian Federation, and the Republic of Tajikistan.