AKIPRESS.COM - China's COSCO Shipping plans to invest in a special economic zone on Kazakhstan's border with China as it looks to increase investment in countries involved in the new Silk Road, the company's chairman told Reuters May 14.
Officially named the Belt and Road initiative, the Silk Road initiative unveiled in 2013 has been touted by China as a way to boost global development through expanded links between Asia, Africa, Europe and beyond, underpinned by billions of dollars in infrastructure investment.
COSCO Chairman Xu Lirong told Reuters on the sidelines of the Belt and Road forum in Beijing that the state-owned conglomerate will sign a deal on Monday with Kazakhstan's national railway company to take a 24 percent stake in a dry port in the Khorgos Eastern Gates special economic zone (SEZ).
He declined to comment on the value of the investment but said that China's Lianyungang port will also invest in the project, which borders China's far western Xinjiang region.
"We will sign the contract tomorrow to participate in the Khorgos Eastern Gates SEZ ... This will be a transhipment hub for handling goods carried by rail from China to Europe," he said.