Can China’s Belt and Road Open Up Landlocked Laos?
August 2nd, 2021
Via Geopolitical Monitor, an article on China’s investments in Laos: Around mid-August, the final tracks will be laid on a 420 km high-speed railway in Laos, enabling the first trains to be tested on the Chinese-built line. Work on the project began in 2016, seeking to link the southern Chinese city of Kunming with Laotian capital Vientiane, […]
Read more »As Major Western Oil Companies Reconsider Iraq, China Seizes Opportunities Offered By Their Departure
July 24th, 2021
Via Al Monitor, a report on Chinese oil companies’ increased interest in Iraq: Western oil companies have started to pull out of central and southern Iraq and are being replaced by Chinese companies following terrorist attacks against facilities and reports of extortion from tribes, militias and bureaucratic officials in state institutions. Meanwhile, Iraq has halted its plans to […]
Read more »China To Invest $1B In Iraqi Factories
July 20th, 2021
Via Belt & Road News, a report of a new Chinese investment in Iraq: Chinese companies have agreed to build three factories in Iraq for manufacturing ceramics and cardboard with a total value of around $980 million. The projects in the Southern AL-Muthanna Governorate bordering Kuwait and Saudi Arabia comprise a ceramics factory at a […]
Read more »China’s Belt and Road Initiative and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization: Key Roles To Play In Afghanistan’s Future
July 16th, 2021
Via Silk Road Briefing, a look at how China’s Belt and Road Initiative and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization have a role to play in Afghanistan’s future: The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation has just held its Council of Foreign Ministers this week in Dushanbe, Tajikistan to discuss the current situation in Afghanistan. “A thorough exchange of views […]
Read more »China’s Belt and Road Won’t Readily Reach Afghanistan
July 15th, 2021
Via Asia Times, a look at Beijing’s hope to connect a Taliban-led Afghanistan with neighboring Pakistan overlooks rising and lethal resistance to the scheme: When suspected militants killed nine Chinese nationals in a blast that sent a bus plunging into a high mountain ravine in northern Pakistan, it marked the latest in a rising string of […]
Read more »Addressing Political Risks As Uzbekistan’s Silk Road Return Takes Shape
July 9th, 2021
Via The Brussels Times, a report on how – as Central Asian and Uzbekistan’s Silk Road takes shape – political risks must be addressed to attract foreign investors New initiatives are currently being taken to develop the central Asian economies along the former ancient silk road. Better infrastructure would of course accelerate trade, attract foreign capital […]
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.