An Overview of Six Economic Corridors and Six Connectivity Networks

Six international economic cooperation corridors, namely the New Eurasian Land Bridge, the China-Mongolia-Russia Economic Corridor, the China-Central Asia-West Asia Economic Corridor, the China-Indochina Peninsula Economic Corridor, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, and the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar Economic Corridor, link the Asian economic circle with the European one, which plays a significant role in establishing and strengthening the partnership of connectivity among various countries, and in setting up an efficient and smooth Asia-Europe market.

--The New Eurasian Land Bridge Economic Corridor. Over the past five years or so, the regional cooperation of the New Asia-Europe Continental Bridge Economic Corridor has been deepened, and partnership featuring openness, inclusiveness, mutual benefit and win-win results has been elevated to a new level, which effectively advanced the economic and trade exchanges between Asia and Europe. The Budapest Guidelines for Cooperation between China and Central and Eastern European Countries and The Sofia Guidelines for Cooperation between China and Central and Eastern European Countries were released, and the practical cooperation under the frameworks of the EU-China connectivity platform and the Investment Plan for Europe has been promoted in an orderly manner. The Belgrade-Stara Pazova section of the Hungary-Serbia Railway was started and the Western China-Western European International Expressway connecting western China, Kazakhstan, Russia and Western Europe has been basically completed.

--The China-Mongolia-Russia Economic Corridor. China, Mongolia and Russia have made positive efforts to build a cross-border infrastructure connectivity network consisting mainly of railways, highways and border ports. In 2018, the three countries signed a Memorandum of Understanding on establishing a joint promotion mechanism for the China-Mongolia-Russia economic corridor, making further progress in improving the working mechanism of the tripartite cooperation. China completed its section of Tongjiang-Nizhneleninskoye railway bridge in October 2018. Construction of the Heihe-Blagoveshchensk road bridge is progressing smoothly now. A China-Russia enterprise consortium has basically completed the preliminary design of the Kazan-Moscow High-speed Railway Project. The Intergovernmental Agreement on International Road Transport along the Asian Highway Network signed and approved by the three countries has come into force and the China-Mongolia-Russia (Erenhot) cross-border terrestrial cable system has been completed.

 --The China-Central Asia-West Asia Economic Corridor. Over the past five years or so, cooperation has advanced in energy, infrastructure connectivity, economy, trade and production capacity. China’s bilateral agreements on international road transport with Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkey and other countries, as well as multilateral agreements on international road transport such as those of China-Pakistan-Kazakhstan-Kyrgyzstan, China-Kazakhstan-Russia and China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan have been successively signed. The infrastructure construction in Central Asia and West Asia has been constantly improved. The China-Saudi Arabia Investment Cooperation Forum has promoted industrial complementarity between the BRI and the Saudi Vision 2030, and has concluded cooperative agreements worth more than 28 billion US dollars. China and Iran have drawn on their strengths in various fields and are strengthening their combined forces in the fields of roads, infrastructure and energy.

--The China-Indochina Peninsula Economic Corridor. Over the past five years or so, positive progress has been made in infrastructure connectivity and the construction of cross-border economic cooperation zones through this corridor. The Kunming-Bangkok Expressway has been completed, while projects such as the China-Laos Railway and the China-Thailand Railway have been steadily advanced. The cooperation in the construction of the China-Laos Economic Corridor has begun. More intensive efforts have been made to dovetail Thailand’s Eastern Economic Corridor and the BRI. China’s economic cooperation with Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam and Thailand has been steadily promoted. The positive role played by the China-ASEAN (10+1) cooperation mechanism, the Lancang-Mekong cooperation (LMC) mechanism, and the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Economic Cooperation is becoming more and more conspicuous.

--The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. The cooperation layout focusing on energy, transportation infrastructure, industrial park cooperation and Gwadar Port has been implemented. China and Pakistan have established the Joint Cooperation Committee of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, establishing a regular meeting mechanism. A number of projects have been smoothly promoted and key projects such as the road to the Gwadar Port, Peshawar-Karachi Motorway (Sukur-Multan Section), Karakoram Highway Phase II (Havelian-Thakot Section), Lahore Orange Line Metro, and the 1,320 MW Coal-Fired Power Plants at Port Qasim have been under construction, some of which have already brought benefits. The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor is opening up third-party cooperation, and more countries have been or are willing to participate.

--The Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar Economic Corridor. Over the past five years or so, Bangladesh, China, India and Myanmar have jointly promoted the corridor construction under the framework of joint working groups. These four countries have also researched, developed and planned a batch of key projects in respects of mechanism and system construction, infrastructure connectivity, trade and industrial park cooperation, opening up in the international financial market, people-to-people and cultural exchanges and cooperation in enhancing people’s well-being. China and Myanmar have jointly established the Joint Committee of China-Myanmar Economic Corridor, and signed a Memorandum of Understanding on building the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor, as well as papers on a feasibility study for the Muse-Mandalay Railway, and the framework agreement on Kyauk Phyu Special Economic Zone Deep-Sea Port Project.