China–Central Asia–West Asia Economic Corridor

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The China-Central Asia-West Asia Economic Corridor (abbreviated as CCAWEC) is an economic and transportation corridor of the Belt and Road Initiative, a global economic connectivity program led by China. The corridor was one of the 6 land corridors articulated in the initial vision for the BRI in 2015. It has since the 2nd Belt and Road Forum in 2019 become one of 35 corridors and project officially included in the BRI.[1][2]

Countries

Academic researchers have variously included the countries of Central Asia, the Caucasus, Middle East, Balkans and Turkey as part of the corridor. A report on the BRI by the OECD in 2018 classifies the following long list of countries as part of the corridor: Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Georgia, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, the Palestinian Authority, Romania, Serbia, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.[3]

Freight route

The China Railways Express, the first freight train to travel along the corridor, made its maiden trip in November 2019 from China (Xian) to Europe (Prague) in 18 days. The railway service traveled from China to Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey (passing through Istanbul's Marmaray Tunnel under the Bosphorus) before arriving in Central Europe. Travelling at an average speed of 40km/h.[4]

Related initiatives

The areas covered by the corridor overlaps with several other regional transportation initiatives. The Baku–Tbilisi–Kars railway going through Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkey is nicknamed the "Iron Silk Road". The railway line and the Port of Baku rail head are both included in the list BRI corridors and projects. A columnist for the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet saw the railway line as joining together with the BRI in the region and challenging Russia's own BRI connected corridor as a primary corridor from China to Europe.[5]

References

  1. ^ "China denies abandoning BCIM corridor". PTI. June 10, 2019.
  2. ^ "Joint Communique of the Leaders' Roundtable of the 2nd Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation". Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China.
  3. ^ "The Belt and Road Initiative in the global trade, investment and finance landscape". OECD.
  4. ^ "First train from China to Europe makes 'Silk Railway' dream come true in Turkey". 7 November 2019.
  5. ^ "The 'Iron Silk Road'". Hurriyet. November 9, 2017.

This page was last updated at 2020-12-21 22:58 UTC. Update now. View original page.

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