Caspian Games: Central Asian ‘Stans’ Vie For Connectivity Market
April 20th, 2018
Via The Asia Times, a report on what some have referred to as ‘Pipelineistan’, but with its Belt and Road Initiative, China is set to be the top game-changer: Azerbaijan held a presidential election this month. Predictably, incumbent leader Ilham Aliyev won his fourth consecutive term with a Kim dynasty-esque 86% of the votes. International monitors […]
Read more »Central Asia: Refocusing Economic Links Towards China Instead of Russia
April 8th, 2018
Courtesy of STRATFOR (subscription required), a look at how Central Asia has restructured its economic links over the past decade, as China has outpaced Russia in the region on trade, investment and infrastructure development: Central Asia has undergone a significant economic transformation in recent years as trade and investment in the region have shifted away from […]
Read more »Is China’s Belt and Road working?
April 2nd, 2018
Via the Nikkei Asian Review, an interesting look at the progress of China’s BRI initiative: The idea of transforming the ancient fishing village of Gwadar into a bustling port city has been around since at least 1954, when Pakistan commissioned the U.S. Geological Survey to examine its coastline. Their conclusion: Gwadar, which sits on the […]
Read more »Digital Silk Road
March 8th, 2018
Via OBOReurope, commentary on the digital Silk Road: Since the launching of the BRI project in 2013, Chinese President Xi Jinping has insisted that the new silk roads would not be just about roads and railways, and that this programme would also focus on telecommunications, fiber, e -commerce. This digital silk route also offers an […]
Read more »China Needs A Win In Afghanistan To Keep Its Edge In Asian Trade
March 8th, 2018
Via Forbes, a look at China’s investment interest in Afghanistan: China wants to help build infrastructure in poor, war-weary Afghanistan to further its regional economic expansion. Chinese economic relations with Pakistan offer a textbook case for what Beijing wants from other countries. The pair with a 523-kilometer (324-mile) long mountainous border hit it off in […]
Read more »Tajikistan Resumes Building Turkmenistan-China Pipeline
February 1st, 2018
Via Eurasianet, a report on the 400km route which will become the fourth strand of the Chinese-Turkmen pipeline network: Work has resumed in Tajikistan on construction work on a natural gas pipeline running from Turkmenistan to China. Deputy Energy and Water Resources Minister Jamshed Shoimzoda said at a press conference on January 30 that funding […]
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.