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SRCIC
Mr. Jean-Guy Carrier: an interview on the Belt and Road Initiative
8 Mar 2018

 

 

On 8 March, 2018, the Executive Chairman of SRCIC and former Secretary General of ICC Mr. Jean-Guy Carrier was interviewed by China Today, a monthly periodical in different languages, and presented his understanding of the Belt and Road Initiative.

 

The Belt and Road Initiative is the most important development project of the 21st Century. It will invest trillions of USD to build roads, railways, ports, airports, telecommunications systems throughout more than 60 Silk Road countries in Africa, Asia Pacific, the Middle East and Europe. This scale of investment will help lift millions of people out of poverty as it improves living standards in the Silk Road countries and beyond.

 

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is not only about development. It marks a different approach to cooperation among nations, based on mutual interest and mutual respect.

 

The BRI is already having macro-economic effects that were achieved in the past through new multilateral and regional agreements on trade. By reducing transportation costs, the BRI will be as important as any new international trade agreement. As tariffs have come down, transportation costs have become the binding constraint to trade. Whereas trade agreements focused on tariffs and other obstacles to trade, the BRI projects are significantly reducing the costs of transportation, border controls and other “trade facilitation” measures. Coming at a time when traditional trade agreements are facing challenges, the BRI trade liberation measures are a boost for global trade and to the global economy. Moreover, they are having the effect of bringing more “emerging” and developing economies into the global economy, as full participants and beneficiaries of trade and globalization. ”

 

 

screenshot of the article published on chinatoday.com.cn

 

Please click the following link to read the article:

http://www.chinatoday.com.cn/ctenglish/2018/hotspots/2018lh/oi/201803/t20180319_800123922.html