Title: Potential impact of 'belt and road' initiative on trade of Euro-Mediterranean countries with China

Authors: Lin Wang; Vito Bobek; Anita Maček; Tatjana Horvat

Addresses: FH Joanneum University of Applied Sciences, Graz, Styria, Austria ' FH Joanneum University of Applied Sciences, Graz, Styria, Austria ' FH Joanneum University of Applied Sciences, Graz, Styria, Austria ' Faculty of Management, University of Primorska, Koper, Slovenia

Abstract: European Union (EU) is facing several challenges, including the disparities in the development, the rise in the populist political parties, and the debt crisis from Greece and Italy. China's One Belt and One Road Initiative provides an opportunity for the EU to overcome the challenges and offers a cooperative strategy for Eurasian countries. It will significantly benefit the lagging behind EU countries by orienting them for culture, commerce, technique, exhibition, and logistics centres for Eurasia. The Mediterranean ports (e.g., Trieste in Italy and Piraeus in Greece) should be revitalised. While the dominant exports from the EU to China are still machinery and electrical products and the room to export them are becoming smaller in the future, the most potential in China is vegetables and food products due to the huge consumer market and the concern on a combination of environmental pollution and food safety. The railways and the seaports from the Mediterranean are the key networks under One Belt and One Road to improve the market connectivity and facilitate bilateral trade between the EU and China.

Keywords: one belt and one road initiative; China; Greece; Italy.

DOI: 10.1504/IJDIPE.2021.114825

International Journal of Diplomacy and Economy, 2021 Vol.7 No.1, pp.33 - 57

Received: 13 May 2020
Accepted: 25 Jul 2020
Published online: 07 May 2021 *

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