摘要：Editor's Note: After a decade of transformative infrastructure projects, what's next for the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)? Can i
Editor's Note: After a decade of transformative infrastructure projects, what's next for the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)? Can its success in infrastructure be replicated in other sectors? In fact, this expansion is already underway. This series titled "Building Lasting Value in Belt and Road Cooperation" gathers insights from top scholars and analysts on how the BRI is broadening into areas like green tech, smart cities and beyond, and what this means for the future of global trade and development.
By Fabien Pacory
Lead: As geopolitical tensions and rapid technological advancements reshape global trade, the Belt and Road Initiative offers a new framework for countries and businesses to adapt and thrive.
The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a sweeping global development initiative proposed by China, has the potential to profoundly reshape global value chains across industries and regions. As trade patterns and supply chains continue to shift, nations and business leaders must evaluate how these changes affect their competitiveness. Proactive scenario planning is essential in navigating this uncertainty, and the BRI stands as a prime example of the transformative shifts already underway.
This raises a critical question for businesses: Should companies invest beyond just final assembly as upstream and downstream industries move to new regions? Expanding into areas like component production, sourcing or logistics could help businesses establish a presence in emerging hubs, reduce risks and adapt to shifting supply chains. Success will depend on foresight, agility and collaboration in an increasingly fragmented global economy.
The BRI, which encompasses extensive infrastructure development and investments spanning more than 150 countries, aims to enhance regional connectivity and promote a shared future of greater prosperity and economic integration among participating nations. By leveraging its vast resources and strategic vision, China, along with partner countries, is set to establish the BRI as a transformative force that can reshape global trade, investment and production patterns, ultimately forging a more interconnected global economy.
At the heart of the BRI's impact lies its substantial investments in critical infrastructure projects, such as ports, railways, roads and energy facilities. These projects are crucial for creating and integrating global value chains. By enhancing regional connectivity and cutting cross-border transportation costs and times, the BRI aims to connect different regions into seamless global supply chains.
The 1st freight train of Shanghai-Kunming Lancang-Mekong Express departs from Wangjiaying West Station in Kunming, Southwest China's Yunnan province, Oct 8, 2023.[Photo/Xinhua]
This strategic focus on infrastructure development is a crucial pillar of the BRI's efforts that not only reshapes international commerce but also creates new corridors of global trade. This is especially significant now that the number of new global trade restrictions each year has been steadily increasing, from about 650 new restrictions in 2017 to more than 3,000 in 2023.
Furthermore, the BRI's emphasis on trade facilitation, including the reduction of trade barriers, harmonization of standards and streamlining of customs procedures, can encourage companies to spread their operations across multiple countries. This can lead to the formation of new regional industrial chains, where each country specializes in specific components or stages of the production process, leveraging their comparative advantages. This new specialization and division of labor can increase efficiency, drive down costs and enhance the overall competitiveness of participating countries.
Business cooperation is another key element of the BRI, helping to build more efficient global value chains. By setting up industrial parks, warehouse networks and special economic zones, the BRI is supporting integrated logistics systems. This allows different parts of a product to be made in various locations and assembled elsewhere. This type of regional integration can foster economic cooperation and interdependence among participating countries, leading to increased productivity, technological transfer and the creation of new employment opportunities. To be more efficient, the BRI has established different management modes and a green development evaluation index system to implement localized versions of international performance guidelines.
By facilitating the flow of goods, services and investments across borders, the BRI can help strengthen the linkages between national economies, while the focus on energy and resource collaboration is a key aspect of its efforts to foster the creation and integration of global value chains. The United Nations Industrial Development Organization Center for South-South Industrial Cooperation, a collaborative venture with China known as "UCSSIC China," is promoting the guidelines in industrial parks across Belt and Road partner countries. This will be achieved through the South-South cooperation platform, particularly its application in the UNIDO Programme for Country Partnership.
By investing in the development of natural resources within participating countries, the BRI helps to secure a reliable and resilient supply of critical raw materials and energy sources needed for various stages of the value chain. This approach enhances the stability and continuity of global supply chains, reduces the risks of disruptions and ensures the steady availability of essential inputs for manufacturing and production processes across diverse industries. By leveraging their own natural endowments, these participating countries can take part more meaningfully in higher-value stages of the production process, fostering mutual growth and shared prosperity among BRI partners.
The BRI's emphasis on promoting sustainable development in energy and resource collaborations is notable. By encouraging the adoption of clean technologies and environmentally friendly practices, the initiative seeks to mitigate the environmental impact of resource extraction and utilization. This focus aligns with the global shift toward sustainable supply chain management and circular economy models, positioning the BRI as a forward-thinking and responsible part of the evolving global economic landscape. This holistic approach not only enhances the reliability and resilience of supply chains but also addresses pressing environmental concerns, contributing to a more balanced and equitable economic future.
This photo taken on Sept. 27, 2020 shows a lifting operation at the construction site of the Senj Wind Farm project in Senj, Croatia. [Photo by Ding Decai/Xinhua]
This far-reaching initiative has the potential to reshape global economic dynamics and foster new, high-quality patterns of interdependence and collaboration among participating countries.
Looking ahead, China's strategic investments in future industries, the emerging fifth industrial revolution and innovative technologies such as artificial intelligence and green technology will lead to further evolution of its industrial structure and development paradigm. With a focus on high-quality development and sustainable growth, China offers a compelling model for developing countries seeking to emulate its success while balancing industrialization and environmental stewardship. By driving technological convergence across industries within the BRI, China is accelerating innovation and positioning itself as a leader in global economic transformation.
The BRI's full impact on global value chains is still unclear due to its complexity. However, its focus on improving regional connections, boosting trade and investment, and encouraging industrial teamwork suggests it could significantly change the global economic picture. It could create new opportunities for countries to join and benefit from evolving global production networks. Some new economic development patterns may emerge if linked or combined with advancements like AI and 6G technology.
The BRI also addresses challenges, such as debt management, by adopting equity-based financing models, including public-private partnerships, to reduce liability risks. Sustainability compliance is another priority, with efforts to align projects with the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to mitigate environmental concerns.
China's industrialization and the BRI highlight the transformative potential of strategic state-market collaboration, infrastructure investment and innovation. For BRI partner countries, success will depend on aligning industrial policies with global value chain-driven development opportunities, balancing growth with sustainability, prioritizing green technologies and so on.
A coordinated effort involving governments, industries, and academia will be crucial to harness technological convergence and its potential to drive sustainable economic growth and improve societal well-being. The BRI has the capacity to address real business challenges and seize opportunities that arise from interdisciplinary innovation. It could serve as a dynamic tool to map synergies between fields such as AI, biotech and green energy, dismantle institutional silos and incentivize data transparency. The BRI now has the potential to act as a catalyst for collaboration, enabling policymakers and businesses to identify high-impact opportunities, allocate resources strategically and measure progress toward shared goals. By fostering open ecosystems of innovation, this framework could accelerate the transition from fragmented advancement to systemic, value-creating transformation, ensuring technological convergence translates into equitable benefits for economies and citizens alike.
The BRI, backed by advanced engineering and artificial intelligence, could introduce more sophisticated industrial collaborations and opportunities to participating countries. We can start to call this a new generation of convergence, which must be considered a real game-changer. It offers new system thinking possibilities, steadily moving toward the global frontiers of technology and innovation.
As an example, during the AI Action Summit in Paris, China announced its willingness to work with other countries to promote development, safeguard security, share achievements in the field of AI, and jointly build a community with a shared future for mankind.
A future marked by diversified trade offers numerous advantages, including enhanced resilience against supply chain disruptions and the potential for fostering a more inclusive global trading system and equitable economy. This is what the BRI network aims to create. However, building an expansive, interconnected network of trade relationships capable of driving sustainable growth and shared prosperity can only be realized through collective action and international cooperation. Without collaborative efforts to bridge economic divides and align priorities, such a vision of truly inclusive, resilient trade remains out of reach.
Geopolitical tensions, strategic risks and the prospect of a fundamentally reordered global trade landscape weigh heavily on the agendas of both corporate decision-makers and government leaders. While reshaping trade systems in a deeply interdependent global system remains complex, initial signs of transformation are already visible, and this momentum appears poised to accelerate. In these uncertain times, businesses must prepare for changing trade patterns, plan for various scenarios, and develop strategies that both adapt to and shape the future of global trade. To succeed, businesses need to be adaptable, have foresight, and adjust to a world where the rules are being rewritten. So do government leaders across the globe. Fortunately, the BRI offers a new framework to fit this evolving world.
Fabien Pacory is the executive vice president of the French Chamber of Commerce and Industry in China and a doctoral candidate in sustainability and the knowledge economy at Skema Business School in France.
来源：中国网
