The Logistics Leaders’ Evening organised by the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT) Sri Lanka, was held on the 2nd of August with a lecture titled ‘China’s Belt & Road Initiative – A realization of an Aspiration’ by Prof. Paul Tae-Woo Lee at the National Chamber of Commerce of Sri Lanka Auditorium to a full house.
Prof. Paul Tae-Woo Lee is a professor at the School of Business IT and Logistics and Leader of the One Belt One Road (OBOR) Research Lab in RMIT University Melbourne Australia.
The presentation showcased a detailed explanation of the Belt & Road Initiative (BRI) – the depth and extensiveness of which is still little understood. Prof. Lee did mention that there are still no detailed studies on the impact of BRI, and currently only a shallow understanding prevails.
The key elements of the BRI included a fascinating network of infrastructure and city clusters aiming to restructure China’s economic model and transportation network, as we currently know it.
He also briefly touched on some of the various corridors such as the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, Greater Mekong Sub Region and China-Russia Corridor, all of which entail tremendous investments to set up physical infrastructure. The BRI has kicked off in Sri Lanka with two strong projects in the Colombo International Financial City and the Hambantota Port. Interestingly, the BRI is looking to transform the economies of countries that it has targeted while providing job opportunities and uplifting living standards.
Hambantota has interests to China that extend far beyond the economic capacity of the port itself.