Experts see big benefits from 'Silk Road Economic Belt'

India and China stand to benefit in a big way through opening up of new trade routes from a global 'Silk Road Economic Belt' being proposed by Chinese government for connecting various Asian and European countries, experts believe.

This new economic belt promises significant strengthening of economic as well as cultural trade among the nations along this route, as per the experts, including scholars and business leaders, who recently participated in a seminar here.

The idea of the Silk Road Economic Belt was first proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping last year and it is being seen as a major initiative on part of China to strengthen its economic ties with various nations, including those within Asia and Europe.

The trade volume between China and countries along this economic belt rose to $600 billion last year and accounted for 15 per cent of the country's total foreign trade.

"The Silk Road economic belt goes through 18 European and Asian countries... It has great significance in the world's political and economic landscape," Xinjiang Party secretary Zhang Chunxian said during the seminar held here late last month.

The seminar, titled 'the Silk Road Economic Belt: A New Opportunity to Build, Prosper, Succeed and Share Together', was attended by scholars, business leaders and mediapersons from China as well as 20 other countries including India.

"Part of the fabled Silk Route, the road for all its inaccessibility, must still be the starting point for reviving links between Ladakh and Xinjiang," Institute of Chinese Studies, New Delhi, Assistant Director, Jabin T Jacob said.

Such revival need not be limited to merely renewing ancient trade or people-to-people contacts but can be upgraded to take into account modern changes and extended to still more areas such as energy and tourism, he added.

According to Mahesh Ranjan Debata, Assistant Professor at School of International Studies of Jawaharlal Nehru University, the importance of Silk Road Economic Belt for India "stems from a number of factors in regard to histories, cultures and economics.

"And this could be a stepping stone to the revival of age-old ties between India and the regions along the Route, such as Xinjiang and Central Asia.