Asiamoney New Silk Road Finance Awards

Citi is ideally placed to support Belt and Road trade and initiatives across the region given its presence in 24 countries in the Middle East and Africa and its strong track record in Asia.

Agricultural Bank of China is playing an increasingly important role in promoting Belt and Road objectives in the United Arab Emirates. China’s third-largest bank opened its second Middle Eastern branch in Dubai in May 2017. The new operation acts as a renminbi clearing centre for the UAE, as well as to offer financial services, including trade finance and syndicated loans, to local companies.

First Abu Dhabi Bank consolidated its position as the leading Middle Eastern bank for Belt and Road financing during the awards period from 2018 to 2019.

Created in 2012 by the Belarusian government with the support of policymakers in Beijing, Great Stone Industrial Park is the largest international industrial park with Chinese investment and a cornerstone of Belarus’s commitment to the Belt and Road project.

The expansion of Minsk National Airport is a crucial part of local policymakers’ drive to position Belarus at the heart of the Belt and Road Initiative. Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko officially opened the second runway at Minsk National Airport in May. The new facility, which took three years to complete and was built using state-of-the-art technology, is big enough to accommodate the largest commercial aircraft and doubles the airport’s capacity for passenger traffic.

Belarus has been an important partner for China in central and eastern Europe for nearly two decades, and the level of cooperation has intensified since the announcement of the Belt and Road Initiative in 2013. This in turn has created an increasing need for financial services to support rapidly expanding trade, economic and tourism links between the two countries.

With the inauguration last year of Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC), Kazakhstan is rapidly emerging as a hub for Belt and Road financing, as well as for transportation. China International Capital Corporation (CICC) has positioned itself at the heart of this initiative and as a key conduit for Chinese investment and financing into Kazakhstan. In 2017, the bank signed a strategic cooperation agreement with AIFC to provide advice on the development of local capital markets and technical support for Astana’s new stock exchange.

ICBC became the first Chinese bank to open a subsidiary in Vienna in May this year, to promote cooperation between China and Austria and serving as a gateway to central and eastern Europe (CEE).

China International Capital Corp’s research on the Belt and Road Initiative is comprehensive, rigorous and most importantly, honest.