Courtesy of Forbes, interesting commentary by Wade Shepherd on some difficulties faced by the new Silk Road in Sri Lanka: It was supposed to be a great new catalyst of transportation, manufacturing, and trade that would be used to stimulate growth in Sri Lanka’s remote Hambantota district. The dream was for Sri Lanka, China, and other nations to join […]
Read more »Via Future Directions International, a detailed look at Pakistan’s economic and demographic situation: Key Points Carved out of British colonial India, Pakistan was initially economically and socially successful. It subsequently became less so because of political decisions. The value to Pakistan of recent agricultural and economic agreements with Saudi Arabia and China is questionable. There […]
Read more »Via Forbes, an interesting look at a Chinese And Kazakh remote cross-border FTZ which may be ready to boom: The first time I visited the International Center for Boundary Cooperation “Khorgos” (ICBC) was in May of 2015. At that time, I found a bi-national free trade zone straddling the China / Kazakhstan border that was basically […]
Read more »Via Frontera, a report on some key projects in the China Pakistan Economic Corridor: 1) The China – Pakistan Rail link is a controversial project that would effectively connect Pakistan’s Northwestern province with China’s western Xinxiang region, cutting through some of the most mountainous and treacherous terrain in the world, including the Khunjurab pass which […]
Read more »Courtesy of The Economist (subscription required), an interesting article on how – in the absence of reliable numbers – scholars are trying new forms of guesswork to measure the North Korean economy: FACTS about the North Korean economy are not so much alternative as non-existent. The country has never published a statistical yearbook. If it […]
Read more »Via MERICS China Mapping, a very detailed look at various components of China’s One Belt One Road Initiative:
Read more »