The BRI and India’s Neighbourhood

Chinese President Xi Jinping initially proposed to build an ‘economic belt’ and a ‘21st-century Maritime Silk Road’ in 2013 which were formalised as the ‘Belt and Road Initiative’ (BRI) in a document—‘Vision and Actions on Jointly Building Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st-century Maritime Silk Road’—released by the National Reform and Development Commission in 2015.

The BRI is a huge investment, trade, connectivity and infrastructure undertaking involving 65 countries in three continents and collectively accounting for over 30 per cent of the global GDP, 62 per cent of the world’s population and 75 per cent of known energy reserves.