Weekly News Roundup: Dispatches from the Silk Road Economic Belt

Russia's Rosneft confirms oil supply deal with China's CEFC
Rosneft had signed an oil supply deal with CEFC China Energy Company Ltd, Russia’s largest oil producer said in a regulatory filing on Monday, confirming a Reuters report last week. (reuters)

Cargo train services launched between Hamburg, central China's Yichang
China launches cargo train service between Yichang of central China's Hubei and Hamburg, Germany on Monday. Carrying fresh oranges, medical gauze and packaging film, the train will be on the road for 17 days. (Xinhua)

China and Pakistan agree to push forward economic corridor plan after dam deal scrapped
Analysts say disputes over individual projects won’t get in the way as officials sign long-term plan for US$57 billion scheme. Officials from both sides were finalising a long-term plan to 2030 for the US$57 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) on Tuesday as they wrapped up a Joint Coordination Committee meeting in Islamabad.(scmp)

Five biggest Chinese investments in the Pakistan arm of the Belt and Road Initiative

The US$57 billion second phase of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) – an ambitious plan to integrate sea and land routes across Eurasia under China’s Belt and Road Initiative – is moving along, guided by a joint cooperation panel’s decisions at an Islamabad forum. (scmp)

Pakistan rejects use of Chinese currency

Pakistan has turned down China’s demand to allow its currency to be used in the Gwadar Free Zone under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor framework, arguing any such move would compromise its ‘economic sovereignty’(tribune)

Chinese premier's upcoming visit conducive to cooperation with CEE, SCO countries

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang's upcoming visit is of great importance to China's cooperation with the Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) countries, officials said here Tuesday. Premier Li will attend the sixth meeting of heads of government of China and CEE countries during his official visit to Hungary from Nov. 26-29, and attend the 16th meeting of the Council of SCO Heads of Government (Prime Ministers) in the Russian city of Sochi from Nov. 30 to Dec. 1. (xinhua)

Chinese company starts construction of Serbian coal-fired power plant

A Chinese company started construction on Monday of a new 350-megawatt unit at Serbia’s second largest coal-fired power plant, the first new electricity capacity in the Balkan country in nearly 30 years.The $613 million project is part of a wider deal between Serbia and China that includes expansion of a nearby coal mine and upgrade of existing capacity in the Kostolac coal-fired plant complex. (Reuters)

China completes border disarmament inspections with four countries

China has completed the last round of inspections for this year on the obligation of border disarmament agreements with Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan, according to the PLA Daily.The newspaper reported that China and a team representing the other four countries inspected each other's border defense forces in mid-August.In 1996, the five countries signed the Agreement on Confidence-Building in the Military Field Along the Border Areas. In 1997, they signed the Agreement on the Mutual Reduction of Military Forces in the Border Areas. The agreements laid down a foundation for the establishment of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). (global times)

China says Shanghai security bloc could soon agree on free trade area
China hopes the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) security bloc will soon be able to set up a long-mooted free trade area, a senior Chinese diplomat said on Tuesday ahead of a summit of the grouping in Russia late next week.“We believe that with the efforts of all SCO members, including new members India and Pakistan, the goal of establishing an SCO free trade zone will definitely be achieved before long,” Assistant Chinese Foreign Minister Li Huilai told reporters. (Reuters)

China hints it can rename CPEC if India joins OBOR initiative

The Chinese foreign ministry on Thursday responded to a statement by its ambassador in India, Luo Zhaohui, who recently said Beijing is prepared to rename the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) to address India's concerns+ . The ministry neither endorsed nor denied Luo's statement, suggesting that it was encouraging Luo to negotiate with New Delhi over the issue, while ensuring that it did not upset Islamabad either. (Times of India)

Nepal vote set to favor China over India

As Nepalese begin voting in a general election on Nov. 26, not only will they be determining their government but also which superpower -- China or India -- will gain the upper hand over the small landlocked country. (Nikkei)


China ‘to build third Hualong One nuclear reactor’ in Pakistan

China has signed a deal to build a third nuclear reactor in Pakistan, which wants to get a fifth of its electricity from nuclear by 2030. (SCMP)

Syria courts China for rebuilding push after fall of Islamic State’s strongholds
Ambassador to Beijing says Assad regime open to oil-for-loan deals or yuan-denominated transactions as it seeks to lure businesses. (Scmp)

CENTRAL ASIA

Kyrgyzstan: Notorious High-Ranking Customs Official Fired
A notorious high-ranking customs official in Kyrgyzstan has been fired in a dramatic personnel reshuffle that comes weeks after Kazakhstan complained about the volume of contraband goods flooding in from its southern neighbor.Prime Minister Sapar Isakov signed the order to dismiss Customs Service deputy chairman Rayimbek Matraimov on November 23, noting that the official’s action did not comply with government policies. Matraimov, who is known popularly (and tellingly) by his nickname “Rayim Million,” has long wielded substantial influence in the south of the country, which is a conduit for vast amounts of imported wares arriving from China.Late last month, Kazakhstan’s Prime Minister Bakytzhan Sagintayev accused Kyrgyzstan of acting as a substantial conduit for Chinese-sourced contraband and thereby causing huge financial losses to the Eurasian Economic Union, or EEU, a Moscow-led trade bloc. Failure to properly enforce import tariffs, which are apportioned among bloc members at pre-agreed rates, cost the EEU around $2.7 billion in the first eight months of 2017 alone, Sagintayev asserted. (Eurasianet)

 

How Turkey, Iran, Russia and India are playing the New Silk Roads
A pacified Syria is key to the economic integration of Eurasia through energy and transportation connections. A stable Syria is crucial to all parties involved in Eurasia integration. As Asia Times reported, China has made it clear that a pacified Syria will eventually become a hub of the New Silk Roads, known as the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) – building on the previous business bonanza of legions of small traders commuting between Yiwu and the Levant. (atimes)

Afghanistan Betting on Transit Corridor to Europe via Caucasus
Eurasia has no shortage of ambitious, difficult-to-implement transit route projects in the works. But even in that crowded field, a $2 billion corridor connecting Afghanistan to Europe via the Caspian Sea and the Caucasus stands out.On November 15, officials from Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkey signed an agreement in Ashgabat to build what they called the Lapis Lazuli Corridor. The aim of the agreement is to simplify customs and transportation procedures along the route, giving Afghanistan a new, relatively attractive route to ship its products to Europe. (eurasia)

Opportunities and Challenges Await Kyrgyzstan’s Incoming President

Sooronbai Jeenbekov will be inaugurated as Kyrgyzstan’s fifth president on 24 November, the victor of a tight, unpredictable, contested but ultimately legitimate election. The new leader, a loyal member of the ruling Social Democratic Party of Kyrgyzstan (SDPK), won 54 per cent of the vote and gained a majority in every province but Talas – the home of the defeated main opposition candidate Omurbek Babanov. (Crisi Group)

Iran not to exclude possibility of gas export to Tajikistan

Attraction of investments for the transit of Iranian gas to Tajikistan can be a turning point in improving economic relations between the two countries.This was stated by the Iranian parliament speaker, Ali Larijani, on the sidelines of the 10th plenary meeting of the Asian Parliamentary Assembly (APA), Iranian media outlets reported.Larijani told Vice-Speaker of the Tajikistan’s Parliament Khairiniso Yusufi that investments could be attracted, in particular, for electricity generation and water transfer from Tajikistan to Iran and sending gas from the Islamic Republic to the countries of Central Asia. (azernews)