ONE BELT ONE ROAD PROJECT TO BENEFIT THE WORLD

The old age says “The value of a man resides in what he gives and not in what he is capable of receiving” Chinese president Xi Jinping has proved it to the world by initiating the project that will benefit not only China but the big part of the world generally. The upcoming One Road One Belt (OBOR) diplomatic summit that will be held in Beijing China; in May this year (2017) with the inclusion of several other nations is said to beneficial to the world. A senior Indonesian government official said China was aiming for a "spectacular" summit.

From the Ancient Silk Road to the One Belt, One Road Initiative.

The Ancient Silk Road was a network of trade routes, established during the Han Dynasty (206 BC – 220 AD). It was connecting Changan (Xian) in China to Venice and the Roman Empire in the West. These roads not only built a network of trade but also facilitated the cultural exchanges between two big civilisations. The Silk Road lost its full functions around 1453 with the rise of the Ottoman Empire, whose rulers opposed the West. However, China has recently put forward a giant plan to revive the Ancient Silk Road.

This plan is a combination between the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-century Maritime Silk Road, also known as The One Belt, One Road (OBOR) Initiative.

What is One Belt, One Road?

The Silk Road Economic Belt also known as the Belt and Road initiative (abbreviated as B &R), or one belt one road (abbreviated as OBOR) is a development strategy and framework, proposed by Chinese president Xi Jinping that focuses on connectivity and cooperation among countries primarily between the People's Republic of China and the rest of Eurasia, which consists of two main components, the land-based "Silk Road Economic Belt" (SREB) and oceangoing "Maritime Silk Road" (MSR). The strategy underlines China's push to take a bigger role in global affairs, and its need for priority capacity cooperation in areas such as steel manufacturing. It is the initiative to build a new Silk Road linking Asia, Africa and Europe, a landmark program to invest billions of dollars in infrastructure projects including railways, ports and power grids.

It was unveiled in September and October 2013 in announcements revealing the SREB and MSR, respectively. It was also promoted by Premier Li Keqiang during the State visit in Asia and Europe.

Foreign Minister Wang Yi has announced a list of those attending the conference, including some of China's most reliable allies - Russian President Vladimir Putin, Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen. Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak and Indonesian President Joko Widodo and Belarus President Alexander Lukashenka are coming too, generally all good partners of China.

The list included only one leader from the Group of Seven (G7) industrialized nations, Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni.

China Foreign Minister Wang Yi said, representative of 110 countries would attend the summit, and he added that;

"One Belt, One Road is to date the most important public good China has given to the world, first proposed by China but for all countries to enjoy,"

On the other hand Belarusian head of state Alexander Lukashenko said that in the implementation of this initiative China is not going to impose its interests or launch any commercial expansion of the states.

 “China is coming as a friendly state, offering loans, investment, cutting-edge technologies to the countries which are going to make part of the Silk Road project,”

The Belarusian leader noted that representatives of the Chinese mass media had already visited the China-Belarus Industrial Park as part of the press tour. The park should become one of the hubs of the Silk Road Economic Belt.

The two major financial institutions are involved in funding infrastructure development which are The World Bank and Asian Development Bank (ADB). Economic growth in Asia is accelerating, in tandem with the increase in population that will translate to greater markets and employment, and this expands the scope for realising infrastructure projects. In this regard, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank based in Beijing may become a third platform to provide infrastructure development financing, especially for investments under OBOR.

Apart from being the initiative of the project China has dedicated $40 billion to a Silk Road Fund, and influenced the establishment of the $50 billion China-backed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.