Pakistan-Iran-Turkey Rail Freight Line Reopens After Ten Years
December 23rd, 2021
Via Silk Road Briefing, a report on a newly resumed Islamabad-Istanbul rail service which will boost trade among the Economic Cooperation Organisation countries: The first freight train to run from Pakistan to Turkey through Iran has departed after a 10-year hiatus in a major boost to the trading capabilities of the three founders of the Economic Cooperation […]
Read more »New China-Backed ‘Green’ Industrial Zone On Borneo
December 22nd, 2021
Via Eurasia Review, an article on a new China-backed ‘green’ industrial zone On Borneo: Indonesian President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo broke ground Tuesday on a U.S. $132-billion “green” industrial estate on Borneo to be built with investments from China and the United Arab Emirates and electrified by a Chinese-funded hydropower plant. When finished the 30,000-hectare (116-square-mile) industrial […]
Read more »Belt and Road: How Laos Exemplifies Preconditions for Global Success
December 21st, 2021
Via New Eastern Outlook, a report on Laos’ results from BRI investments: More than eight years ago, in September 2013, Chinese leader Xi Jinping announced the launch of China’s global transport initiative, One Belt One Road (OBOR). The project implies the unification of all major world transport routes into a single system and removing all […]
Read more »Pakistan’s Gas Pains Threaten Economy
December 21st, 2021
Via The Asia Times, a look at how Pakistan’s gas shortages caused by myopic government policies are shuttering crucial export-geared textile industry and inflating local food prices: Pakistan is teetering towards an energy-cum-economic crisis as natural gas supplies dry up, export-oriented factories that use the fuel close down and households that rely on it for […]
Read more »China’s Investment Drive and Africa’s Disjointed Infrastructure
December 21st, 2021
Via The Diplomat, an article on some of the disjointed infrastructure projects taken up on the African continent by Chinese firms: At Alagomeji, a suburb in Lagos, there is a towering new building housing the Lagos-Ibadan train project. This building is perhaps the most visible testament to the much touted and very aggressive China-Nigeria relationship. […]
Read more »Reinvention of Saudi Economy: Slower Than Planned
December 19th, 2021
Via The Economist, a look at the how the reinvention of the Saudi economy is going slower than planned: Were it not for the ubiquitous photos of the royal family, visitors to Abha might forget they were in Saudi Arabia. Gnarled juniper trees dot green mountains; mist clings to valleys where farmers grow crops and […]
Read more »Focusing primarily on The New Seven Sisters - the largely state owned petroleum companies from the emerging world that have become key players in the oil & gas industry as identified by Carola Hoyos, Chief Energy Correspondent for The Financial Times - but spanning other nascent opportunities around the globe that may hold potential in the years ahead, Wildcats & Black Sheep is a place for the adventurous to contemplate & evaluate the emerging markets of tomorrow.