Регионы в современном мире: глобализация и Азия. Зарубежное регионоведение - стр. 33
The interaction between the Eurasian economic Union and the «One belt – one road» initiative is primarily considered from the point of view of the development of logistics infrastructure and the creation of transport corridors. The Eurasian economic Union has proposed 38 projects for joint financing with China, including 11 Russian projects35. Thanks to the support of China the construction and development of transport routes connecting Western China and Western Europe and the Northern Sea route are planned.
The implementation of these projects is perfect for China because it will reduce the speed of delivery of goods to the European market (which is especially important because a daily trade volume of China – EU is 1.5 billion euro) and to Russia, as it will help to develop national production and export potential. As to the Russia the transit potential of the TRANS-Siberian railway is not fully used and a participation in the Chinese project will strengthen its role. The most important infrastructure project of fundamental importance for economic partnership between Russia and China is a construction of a railway bridge over the Amur River. The financial operator of this project is the Russian-Chinese investment Fund, formed By the Russian direct investment Fund and China Investment Corporation.
According to the opinion of some experts, the increase in the supply of goods, including transit through the Russian Federation by the help of land transport on the route China-Europe is real, if infrastructure capabilities and increase capacity will be increased. The experts also note two problems. The first one is an imbalance of under loading of trains when they return. The other problem is investment. The participants of the new Silk Road, who take part in the project as transit points, are still afraid to invest in the project, so the main financial burden falls on China. The China’s participation in the Russian projects can be regarded as a «political investment». Despite the loud statements of politicians of the two countries the real results of cooperation between China and Russia in the framework of the project are very modest.
Among project consequences for Russia we can note the following. The participation in the project “One belt – one road” can lead to the integration of the Russian transport system into the transport and logistics network of the Eurasian region, which will open up opportunities for transit and provision of related logistics services and access to the markets of the region