The World Bank’s annual Private Participation in Infrastructure (PPI) report tracks private investment in infrastructure projects globally. In 2017, both the total amount of private investment commitments and the number of countries receiving them increased from the previous year. Here are a few key numbers from the 2017 PPI report.
Just 10 years ago, regular direct freight services from China to Europe did not exist. Today, they connect roughly 35 Chinese cities with 34 European cities. But despite their rapid advances, these lines must compete with maritime routes that have dominated commerce between Asia and Europe since the late fifteenth century. It remains to be seen how much trade they can capture.
In pursuit of a robust strategic partnership, India and Japan are broadcasting their desire to work together far beyond South Asia, with an emphasis on Africa. Their vision for an Asia-Africa Growth Corridor (AAGC) lacks detail, but still offers an opportunity to raise both countries’ profile in a strategic continent. To compete with China’s presence there, however, India and Japan will have to show that they are committed to the continent and that they can deliver not just on quality but also on speed.
As Asia’s infrastructure competition unfolds, interest in how infrastructure investment is carried out has been rising. China’s Belt & Road Initiative, which aspires to connect nearly two-thirds of the global population and 60 percent of its GDP, along with other infrastructure initiatives across the region have raised the premium on understanding different approaches.
Nowhere else in Europe has China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) been met with quite such a warm embrace as in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). China’s large-scale financing of highways, railways, ports, and other infrastructure to better connect China to Southeast Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Europe has clearly struck a chord with CEE leaders.