CHINA: EU'S CONNECTIVITY PLAN

The European Commission, the executive body of the EU, in the last week of September set out the Europe-Asia Connectivity plan providing for the construction of transport links, as well as development of human, energy and digital networks. It needs to be approved by the EU Parliament and the European Council. Through its new strategy, the EU wants to promote commonly agreed cross-border rules, standards and regulations to strengthen Eurasian cooperation and ensure fair competition for all businesses. It aims to guarantee that investments in infrastructure integration from the eastern Atlantic to the western Pacific are fiscally, financially, socially and environmentally sustainable. The EU has good reasons to believe its bet on better connectivity with Asia will pay off. Annual trade between the bloc and Asian countries stands at US$1.8 trillion, with the two regions accounting for more than 60% of the world’s GDP.  The EU plans to source funds from a combination of potential investors such as multilateral development banks, international financial institutions and the private sector.  The EU is already financing Eurasian connectivity. Its Asia Investment and Central Asia Investment facilities was involved in over $4.9 billion of investment between 2010 and mid-2018 through a mix of grants and loans. The European grouping has invested $41 million in the construction of a bridge in Serbia as part of its project to extend the Trans-European Transport Network (Ten-T), a blueprint for better transport and connectivity across the continent, to Asian transport networks. Brussels also has in place a student exchange and staff mobility program with India, is financially contributing to the integration of the Association of Southeast Asian Nation and has set up with Japan the world’s largest area of safe data transfers. What’s more, the European Investment Bank (EIB) has committed $82.2 million to creating an electricity transmission system between Central and South Asia.





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