The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), put forth by Xi Jinping, the President of China, in 2013, carries enormous potential to make positive contributions to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (Senadjki, et al., 2022).
Re-ordaining and extending the main elements of the early Silk Road’s philosophy and geography for the new century, the BRI is an extremely large-scale programme that might reach up to 70% of the global populace or even more.
It encompasses trade; financial and investment cooperation; diplomacy; regional governance; infrastructure and connectivity; and people-to-people bonds.
The latest high-level declarations, such as the April 2019 Belt and Road Forum in Beijing, highlight the integration of global perspectives and standard universal programmes like sustainable development goals (SDGs).
In view of this, the BRI can provide opportunities to deal with universal social, economic and environmental objectives through its ventures, and help address concerns such as the lingering lack of funds, insufficient institutional progress, and frail partnerships.
Nevertheless, doubts remain about how far the BRI and the entities that are part of it, including private sector stakeholders and national governments, align with attaining sustainable development objectives – mainly because this was not the actual purpose of the scheme.
Furthermore, in spite of an increasing amount of evidence, more efforts need to be directed towards comprehending the economic, political, fiscal, environmental and societal risks, consequences, and effects for the involved nations and groups.
The BRI and SDGs require each other for their common success. Within the SDG agenda, BRI offers a grand initiative in one of the most vital areas in the world for sustainable growth: Eurasia.
Moreover, China, whose development prototype gels well with the main elements of sustainable development, is driving BRI. This is a good aspect.
From the perspective of BRI, the SDG agenda offers the necessary guidance on the ecological and social elements of the ventures being taken into account.
Considering the essentials of the COP21 Paris Climate Agreement, this is crucial.
If there is integration between BRI and the SDGs, a new kind of multilateralism will be generated. It would blend the universal accord of the SDGs, the need for a more viable world, and the effective development plans and financing tactics of China – a key actor in global development finance.
The six aspects stated below would help warrant the mutual advantages of the BRI and SDGs.
First, a well-defined synchronisation structure should be formed between the government of China, the United Nations, and the different regional entities so as to warrant the viability of BRI. The UN is probably the sole universal entity which can assemble the different financial and political establishments that are part of BRI, while also independently backing the initiative.
By engaging the UN, the accomplishments of BRI can also be disseminated to other areas of the world. How the UN enacts its role in BRI would exhibit its significance in multilateralism for the current century.
Second, BRI should steer the need for all nations in the zone to foster long-term SDG execution and investment tactics to make sure that proposed BRI ventures are in linewith sustainable development.
This is especially vital for infrastructure and energy ventures. The COP21 pact entails all nations formulating mid-century Low-emission Development Strategies by 2020, which are in line with the two-degree Celsius objective.
The Deep Decentralization Pathways Project offers a beneficial starting point as nations consider what investments are to be made in their energy setups to be brought in line with a two-degree Celsius course. In other words, all key infrastructure ventures, such as BRI ventures, should be aligned with a two-degree Celsius ecosystem. This is vital for the viable growth of the region.
Third, BRI should advocate for the establishment of well-capitalised national development banks across Europe, Asia, and Africa. Development banks would play a vital part in funding the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the foundation of which is the SDGs.
The formation of the New Development Bank and AIIB, both steered mainly by Beijing, indicates the approval of this fiscal model within China. This has to be mimicked across the zone since BRI ventures would just be a portion of the overall infrastructure development requirements.
Fourth, homegrown fiscal institutions and saving pools (pension funds, commercial banks, insurance companies, and sovereign wealth funds) across the BRI zone should be stimulated for investments in BRI ventures. This has to be carried out in an orderly and synchronised manner, possibly in an alliance by the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and China Investment Corporation.
The World Bank’s Global Infrastructure Facility, which assembles institutional investors, development banks, project developers and commercial banks, can function as a model. One of the main leanings of Chinese – and wider Asian – growth is the directing of local savings for local growth. This is needed for BRI. Using such a synchronised approach, the bankability of BRI ventures will be improved.
Fifth, think tanks and regional universities should play a vital part in formulating the policy frameworks, research plans and cross-cultural exchanges that would be necessary for the attainment of BRI.
The SILKS Network, co-hosted by the Centre for International Relations and Sustainable Development and the Development Research Centre of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China, is a remarkable programme which can be transformational for the BRI venture.
The research initiative around BRI needs to emphasise the assimilation of sustainable growth with the BRI programme.
Sixth, BRI should consider the social progress of the area. Sweeping infrastructure investments are quite potent tools for economic growth. Nevertheless, they have to correspond with social programmes and oversight which ensures zero corruption, reasonable labour values, appropriate ecological oversight, and other such elements.
The UN SDG agenda and BRI can and need to be assimilated. If done properly, a fresh model of sustainable development finance and assimilation would be generated for the world to follow.
The views expressed here are entirely the writer’s own.
This article first appeared in the Star Online on March 14, 2022.
By: Dr Lin Woon Leong, Senior Lecturer, Taylor University
Reference:
Senadjki, A., Awal, I. M., Nee, A. Y. H., & Ogbeibu, S. (2022). The belt and road initiative (BRI): A mechanism to achieve the ninth sustainable development goal (SDG). Journal of Cleaner Production, 372, 133590.