Belt & Road Weekly Investor Intelligence #60

There’s been a lot happening this week that will have an almost immediate impact on 2022 trade flows, and especially in Asia as China reduces tariffs on nearly 1,000 products in lieu of the RCEP agreement. An important conference on BRI and Global Cooperation has been held, and we discuss Chinese outbound investment in new tech. We examine the attractiveness of Hanoi as an investment destination, Russia’s continuing repositioning towards ASEAN markets, and its growing involvement in Iran.

China Lowers Tariffs on 954 Products in Response to RCEP on January 1

To promote the high-quality opening of markets, China will apply agreed tax rates on selected goods originating in 29 countries and regions for 2022 in accordance with China’s free trade agreements (FTA), including the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and the China-Cambodia FTA – both of which will come into effect on January 1, 2022.

How Chinese Financing is Helping German and United States Biotechnology 

The EU and US Biotech meet China’s Health Silk Road in Billion dollar deals as we discuss two unique case studies in Biotechnology collaboration – between ​China and the United States and China and Germany – BeiGene and Amgen, and BioNTech and Fosun Pharma. These studies illustrate the gap between political and commercial perceptions of both China and the Belt and Road Initiative. The reason for the Chinese involvement is a two-way street – Chinese investors gain access to Western biotech, while the US and Germans (in these two cases) gain access to both the Chinese, and potentially the RCEP markets as well.

China Hosts Meeting of the Advisory Council of the Belt & Road Forum for International Cooperation

This article includes analysis of this important international meeting and includes a PDF of the new Advisory Council BRI Report: “High-Quality Belt and Road Cooperation: Partnership on Connectivity”

What Hanoi’s Positive FDI Infrastructure Build Tells Us About its Business Environment 

Hanoi continues to be a leading FDI destination, attracting investment despite the pandemic. The capital city boasts a good business environment, infrastructure, and top-sourced talent. To further attract investment, the government has announced an economic recovery plan for the next five years, with a vision towards 2030.

Russia-Singapore Trade Ties to Boom in Wake of Free Trade Agreement 

Singapore is Russia-business friendly with ease of bank account opening a major draw for Asian regional exports, trade, and investment. Russia and Singapore said they look forward to the “expeditious completion” of the Services and Investment Agreement between the two countries – a key component of the EAEU-Singapore FTA currently being negotiated.

Iran Instigates Persian Gulf-Black Sea Connectivity Infrastructure 

Another agreement with governments in the South Caucasus and Central Asia has been signed to set up a transit route between the Persian Gulf and the Black Sea. The deal between Georgia, Azerbaijan and Iran is one of several that the Iranian government has struck with governments in the region in the past few weeks.

Russia and Iran Sign 20-Year Cooperation Deal

A combination of Chinese and Russian infrastructure development will help replace decaying assets due to the countries sanctions problems and ensure that Iran’s huge mineral oil and gas assets – it owns 12% of global reserves – continue to supply Central Asia and China.

China’s Belt & Road and Beyond 

All the latest international headlines about the global activities across the Belt & Road Initiative.

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