The Belt and Road Initiative and the transit countries: an economic assessment of land transport corridors

Abstract

In the light of the implications of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) for Greater Eurasia and, in particular, Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) countries, this paper assesses the prospects of seven actual and potential trans-Eurasian overland transport corridors. Based on the analysis of trade flows, railway tariffs, existing restrictions and individual routes’ potential efficiency, the most promising overland China–EU and China–EAEU transport corridors and their prospective goods nomenclatures are identified. China–EAEU–EU transit is interpreted as the ‘story of the container’. The principal interests of EAEU countries in developing BRI transport corridors are identified, as are the opportunities that involvement in China’s BRI affords for the promotion of a substantial transit business and, most importantly, better regional and interregional connectivity within both the EAEU and Greater Eurasia.

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