The new Silk Route, or “Belt and Road Initiative” (BRI), is a major policy initiative developed by China to improve connectivity between Asia and Europe. The BRI refers to six major land corridors across the Eurasian continent and a network of maritime trade routes connecting Asia with Africa and Europe. However, no official or generally accepted definition of the BRI exists.
The Transport and Tourism Committee of the European Parliament appointed us to analyse in detail the Initiative and the opportunities and challenges the BRI brings to the European transport and logistics systems. The study was managed by the Policy Department for Structural and Cohesion Policies of the European Parliament.
We identified more than 80 transport-related projects benefitting from Chinese financial engagement (for total investments over 100 billion €). These cover air, road, rail and maritime investments in a large number of countries.
Successes and outcomes
The new Silk Route Initiative brings opportunities and challenges for the European transport system. We produced a research study that analyses the Initiative, its impacts and prospects, as well as the EU transport system’s readiness for the Initiative. The study provides conclusions and recommendations to the European Parliament Committee on Transport and Tourism to address the Initiative’s challenges.
The development of this research study was based on desk research, quantitative analysis of trade and transport flows between Asia and Europe and interviews with business and institutional stakeholders both in Europe and Asia.
You can read the final report of the study on the European Parliament website.
Yes, you are in the right place. After 40 years, we have changed our name from Steer Davies Gleave to mark our growing international footprint and our expanding portfolio into sectors beyond transport.
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