New Silk Road and Montenegro
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New Silk Road and Montenegro
New Silk Roads is a Chinese super-project that should connect Asia and Europe with a single transport and logistics infrastructure. The official start date of the project on September 7, 2013, when President Xi Jinping of Astana (Kazakhstan) proposed "to unite efforts and create economic zone of the Great Silk Road on the basis of innovative methods of interaction, to make economic ties maintained between the Euro-Asian countries closer".
The strategic concept of the New Silk Road includes the land economic belt of the Silk Road and the Sea Silk Road of the 21st century. Since 2015, the concept has received the name "One belt is one dream" and, according to Foreign Minister Wang Yi, will be the center of China's foreign policy.
Financing will be carried out through a specially established fund, which currently has funds of $ 40 billion and with the assistance of the Asian Bank for Infrastructure Investments (to be finalized in December this year). In addition to investing in countries where the necessary infrastructure will be built. In total, the project can be invested more than 20 trillion. dollars, according to different estimates.
However, now any assessments of financing, as well as any other parameters of the project, are not known in the final form. Because the concept does not have a clear geographical framework, starting and ending points, and there is no plan to create a supranational governance structure. China actually invites those who want to participate, but will get cooperation and whether it will be mutually beneficial, it turns out in each case.
With the countries of Central Asia, which are now clearly part of the range of the Silk Road economic belt, the annual volume of trade is about 40 billion dollars. The volume of trade turnover between China and the ASEAN countries that are part of the Sea Silk Route is about 400 billion. One of the last versions of the map-scheme was presented in The Wall Street Journal.
According to The Wall Street Journal
Now the land Silk Road begins in Xi'an (Shaanxi province), passes through the whole of China to Lanzhou (Gansu provincial) to Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), Urumqi, goes to Central Asia (in Kazakhstan, in particular, already one of the key elements of the Path in Khorgos is created). Judging by the statements of Chinese and Central Asian figures, further, the overland Way will cross all of Central Asia, then Iran, Iraq, Syria, Turkey and beyond, through the Bosporus Strait, through the whole of Eastern Europe, possibly with a branch to Moscow, and further to Belarus , across Europe, to Rotterdam and to Venice. Here the supposed final point of the Silk Road.
The Sea Silk Road begins in Quanzhou City (Fuzian Province), passes through Guangzhou (Guangdong Province), Beihai (Guangxi Province), Haikou (Hainan Province), reaches the Strait of Malacca, with a key point in Malaysia, crosses the Indian Ocean with calls to Calcutta (India), Colombo (Sri Lanka) and follows up to Nairobi in Kenya, then - Djibouti, the Red Sea and through the Suez Canal - to the Mediterranean and further to the next key point - Athens, the port of Piraeus, from there through the Adriatic sea to Venice, to meet with the land Silk Road.
The development of the Balkans is also part of China's plans - they must be drawn into the economic exchange between Western Europe and China and between China and Eastern Europe, in particular through rail networks. The Silk Road, which means the construction of railways, passes by Serbia: the route goes from Turkey to Bulgaria and further to Romania. Serbia, like Montenegro, can become elements of the sea route.
In December 2014, Prime Minister of China Li Keqiang paid a visit to Serbia, during which he announced investments in the construction of a high-speed railway that would connect the seaports of the Eastern Mediterranean with Central Europe. In May this year, Hungarian Prime Minister Orban assured that the railway to Budapest would be ready by 2017.
By the way, the main activity of the Chinese in the Silk Road project is the reconstruction of existing or existing railways or roads, rather than the construction of new ones. The goal is to connect already existing or restore previously functioning areas, complete the areas that are not enough and thus build a single transport system throughout Europe with access to ports.
It is known that the Chinese plan to build a route through Greece and the Macedonian city of Skopje and to Belgrade. China is really investing in Greek infrastructure, the Chinese Cosco Pacific in Piraeus is already working there (controlling the terminals), they plan to take Aktio and Castelli in Crete, ZTE and Huawei have already created logistics centers here and so on. Well, but how well the project of the through road Athens - Skopje - Belgrade - Budapest is progressing is not yet audible. Perhaps, because of the strong noise around Syria and Ukraine.
For Beijing, stability in partner countries is very important. During Greksit, for example, China has taken a very tough stance towards Greece - it must remain in the EU, within the framework of a single economic space. Some experts say that the opinion of official Beijing even became decisive. The consequences of Greksit have not yet been eliminated, so China could well have slowed down its expansion into Greece until the conflict is completely exhausted.
The same applies to the direction through Ukraine to Russia, which was previously designated as a main line. It is absolutely clear that until the conflict between Russia and Ukraine ends, China will not lead the New Silk Road through these countries. However, from their they will not refuse. They will wait, and until the time will be discouraged by vague fanciful verbal constructions, this they know best.
The last (or the first, from which side to look) section of the Sea Silk Road passes, including, past the coast of Montenegro. That is, in any case, Montenegro will be dragged into this route. The Chinese are very determined to implement their continental project and invest in building the infrastructure of all interesting countries along the Way, all along.
Therefore, Chinese infrastructure projects in Montenegro are not surprising. From the relatively well-known Chinese undertakings in Montenegro, we can name the announced start of the reconstruction of the Kolasin-Kos railway section with a total length of 9.86 km, which will be performed by the Chinese construction and engineering company CCECC (last year the company completed construction of the Ankara-Istanbul railway).
In addition, as early as 2014, the Ministry of Transport of Montenegro and representatives of the Chinese company CRBS signed an agreement on the construction of a section of the Smokovac-Mateshevo high-speed road Bar-Bolyara, that is, from the sea, to the border with Serbia. And according to the latest data, the preparatory work for the construction of the tunnels Kosman, Morke and Vjetnik began.
Apparently, in the end, it is supposed to create a stream of cargo, from the center of the region to the shore, for transportation to the southeast, and cargo destined for the countries of the Balkan Peninsula, which need not be transported to Venice. Thanks to the restored and new ways of communication, regional trade turnover may come to life. In any case, the well-developed transport infrastructure of Montenegro will definitely not interfere.
Evgeny Novozhilov
#EvgenyNovozhilov
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