What opportunities does the Belt and Road Initiative hold for both China and Romania?

The economic pillar is a natural keystone of Romanian-Chinese relations and our common record in this field is particularly rich. Trade has been active from the very beginning of our diplomatic relationship and in recent years has witnessed a huge rise. The value of Romania’s exports to China in the first half of 2016 alone was more than the total value of our bilateral trade in the year 2000.

With unimpeded trade as one of the cooperation priorities of the Belt and Road Initiative, we are looking forward to concrete results that could lead to a more balanced trade relationship between our two countries, as Romania has a huge potential to export high-quality industrial, agricultural and food products to the Chinese market.

The successful establishment of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) at the end of 2015 was followed by hundreds of millions of dollars of investment in projects in countries along the Belt and Road. In September 2016, Romania formulated its official readiness to embark on consultations aimed at becoming a member of the AIIB, and the accession process is progressing according to plan.

It is in the connectivity area that opportunities for expanding and further diversifying the Romanian-Chinese cooperation may be identified and turned into value. Like the Prime Minister of Romania, Sorin Grindeanu, said on the occasion of China’s National Day last year: “We are persuaded that the project of the new silk roads may contribute to the expansion of economic and trade relations between Romania and China.”

In September 2015, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed on establishing a connectivity platform between China and the EU. Romania supports the strong commit-