Sun, Nov 9, 2014, 1:05AM EST - US Markets are closed
China to establish $40 billion Silk Road infrastructure fund
16 hours ago
China's President Xi Jinping
stands next to a Chinese national flag during a welcoming ceremony at
the Great Hall of the People, in Beijing, November 13, 2013.
REUTERS/Jason Lee
BEIJING (Reuters)
- China will contribute $40 billion (25.20 billion pounds) to set up a
Silk Road infrastructure fund to boost connectivity across Asia,
President Xi Jinping announced on Saturday, the latest Chinese project
to spread the largesse of its own economic growth.
The
fund will be for investing in infrastructure, resources and industrial
and financial cooperation, among other projects, Xi said, according to
Xinhua.
The goal of the fund is to "break the connectivity
bottleneck" in Asia, state media quoted Xi as saying during a meeting in
Beijing with leaders from Bangladesh, Cambodia, Laos, Mongolia,
Myanmar, Pakistan and Tajikistan.
The
Silk Road Fund will be "open" and welcome investors from Asia and
beyond to "actively" take part in the project, Xi was cited as saying,
ahead of a separate summit of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation
(APEC) grouping, also being held in the Chinese capital.
It was
not immediately clear precisely how the fund would work, when it would
start operations or where it would be based, though in all likelihood it
would be China.But Xinhua said it would focus on China's Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road initiative, which aim to build roads, railways, ports and airports across Central Asia and South Asia.
"Such a framework accommodates the needs of various countries and covers both land and sea-related projects," Xi said, adding China is ready to welcome its neighbours "to get on board the train of China's development."
TRAINING PLACES
China will also provide neighboring countries with 20,000 places for training "connectivity professionals" over the next five years, Xi said.
China has sought to address fears in the region - and globally - that its bounding economic growth will inevitably bring about a more assertive, muscular diplomatic and military approach to issues such as territorial disputes.
One of the ways it has done this is to offer large loans to places like Southeast Asia and Africa, to show that China is a benign growing power only interested in helping others escape poverty in the way it has itself over the past three decades.
Last
month, Xi unveiled the $50 billion China-backed Asian Infrastructure
Investment Bank, seen as a challenge to the World Bank and Asian
Development Bank, both multilateral lenders that count Washington and
its allies as their biggest financial backers.
China
has sought to allay concerns that its new bank aims to undermine the
World Bank and Asian Development Bank, saying it wants to learn from
their experience and that there are more than enough projects around for
all the lenders to fund.
(Reporting by Paul Carsten and Ben Blanchard; Editing by Jeremy Laurence and Ian Geoghegan)
Rates
China to establish $40 billion Silk Road infrastructure fund
BEIJING
(Reuters) - China will contribute $40 billion (25.20 billion pounds) to
set up a Silk Road infrastructure fund to boost connectivity across
Asia, President Xi Jinping announced on Saturday, the ...
Reuters
No comments:
Post a Comment