Preface
The Belt and Road Initiative is China’s proposal to participate in openness and cooperation worldwide, improve the global economic governance system, promote global common development and prosperity, and build a community of shared future for mankind. The Belt and Road Initiative is conducive to integrating advantages of various countries in production capacity, technology, capital, resource and market, promoting mutually beneficial cooperation among countries, and carrying out regional cooperation with a broader scope and at a higher and deeper level, in an effort to provide new impetus for global economic growth.
Energy is an important part of the Belt and Road Initiative, as it is an important material basis for the development of human society and is vital to the national economy and people’s livelihood of all countries. As Chinese President Xi Jinping stressed in his keynote speech at the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in May 2017, we need to seize opportunities presented by the new round of change in energy mix and the revolution in energy technologies to develop global energy interconnection and achieve low-carbon development. Global Energy Interconnection (or GEI) is an energy infrastructure platform for large-scale development and use of clean energy worldwide. Building GEI will unleash the development potential of different countries and help make a road full of prosperity.
To build GEI and implement the Belt and Road Initiative, Global Energy Interconnection Development and Cooperation Organization (GEIDCO) developed the Belt and Road Energy Interconnection Research Report (referred to as “Report”). The Report conducts researches on six economic corridors including the New Eurasian Land Bridge, China- Mongolia-Russia, China-Central Asia-West Asia, Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar, China-Pakistan, and China-Indochina Peninsula, and three key passages of the maritime silk road including Northeast Asia, South Pacific, and Indian Ocean-Africa- Mediterranean Sea (hereinafter referred to as the “6+3” Channels). The Report focuses on the development foundation, development framework, and interconnection plan of each channel, proposes key projects of the Belt and Road Energy Interconnection, and analyzes the economic, social, environmental and political benefits from building the Belt and Road Energy Interconnection.
The construction of the Belt and Road Energy Interconnection is of great significance to the implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative. Energy cooperation is an important part of building economic corridors, as most countries and regions along the Belt and Road are rich in energy resources. The Belt and Road Energy Interconnection focuses on the clean energy development and electric power connectivity projects construction, and push forward step by step to get through the bottleneck of energy connectivity, promote common economic development, and provide new framework and plans for the energy and electric power development and cooperation of countries along the route.
The construction of the Belt and Road Energy Interconnection requires joint efforts of governments, enterprises, organizations and individuals of relevant countries. GEIDCO calls on the international community and hopes that all parties can actively join in the construction of this platform that benefits all, in a bid to secure a better future by pooling global wisdom and strength.
