Charting the course of ‘Belt and Road’ cooperation together

Globally there will be a large infrastructure investment gap for the foreseeable future. China alone cannot meet the tremendous demand for infrastructure investment across the ‘Belt and Road’ region. In his keynote speech at the Second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation held in April 2019, President Xi Jinping also said “[w]e welcome the participation of multilateral and national financial institutions in BRI investment and financing and encourage third-market cooperation. With the involvement of multiple stakeholders, we can surely deliver benefits to all.” This is why taking steps to enhance the participation of international private capital in infrastructure projects in countries along the ‘Belt and Road’ will be of utmost importance in the implementation of the BRI over the coming five years.

KPMG, the Institute of Market and Price of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and China International Contractors Association (CHINCA) formed a joint research team to fully understand the current situation with regards international private capital participation in ‘Belt and Road’ projects, and subsequently co-authored this report. In the report we make recommendations to governments, companies, multilateral organisations and professional firms, and call on all these stakeholders to work together to create a robust market mechanism characterised by information transparency, rules-based governance, fair competition and public-private synergy. This will be conducive to attracting more international private capital to infrastructure projects in countries along the ‘Belt and Road’ and promoting more results-oriented implementation of projects and substantive ‘Belt and Road’ cooperation in the coming five years.