One belt, no roads

China’s ambitious ‘‘one belt, one road’’ project to transform trade through better infrastructure is unlikely to be linked to major projects in New Zealand, the NZ China Council predicts. The initiative was raised during Prime Minister Bill English’s meeting with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Monday, with the announcement of a framework ‘‘aimed at closer co-operation on regional infrastructure projects’’. However, the council’s executive director, Stephen Jacobi, said the infrastructure programme was more likely to focus on remote parts of China or countries it shares borders with. ‘‘The Chinese, I don’t think, are going to come out to New Zealand and offer concessionary finance to build our roads and airports,’’ Jacobi said. In New Zealand, the initiative was more likely to focus on trade regulation and facilitation, he said.