State Government Promotes Seminar on Opportunities in China’s New Silk Road

Development potentials and opportunities will be discussed

The Sousândrade Foundation, in partnership with the General Secretariat for Economic Development and Strategic Programs (SEDEPE), will hold, from Monday (11) until next Wednesday (13), in São Luis, the International Symposium on “The Possibilities of Maranhão on the New Chinese Silk Road: Business and Development Opportunities for Brazil” . The aim is to provide strategic information about the project, and to present a view of the range of economic development opportunities that are emerging for Brazil with the inclusion of the capital of Maranhão in China’s New Silk Road.

The opening will be on Monday at 09:00 at Palácio dos Leões; On Tuesday there will be an agenda on the maritime logistics sector at the headquarters of Empresa Maranhense de Administração Portuária (Emap), which operates the port of Itaqui. The event continues on Wednesday with a lecture on the railway logistics sector at the headquarters of the Confederation of Maranhão Industries (FIEMA).

One of the shapers of the expansion of the Silk Road is Professor Paul Lee, Ph.D., Professor at Zhejiang University (China), who will come to Maranhao, as a guest of the state government, for a broad discussion about what could really represent the inclusion of the capital in the Silk Road.

Lee is Associate Director of Research, Institute for Supply Chain and Logistics, School of Business, Victoria University of Melbourne, Australia. Ph.D. from Cardiff University (Wales, UK). He is a recognized scholar in the field of marine economics, has international publications, attends conferences and has served as a consultant to many governments and maritime industries around the world. He was the editor-in-chief of several international newspapers and periodicals in the field of logistics and trade and the author of numerous works in the sector of maritime studies, ports, the globalized economy and development.

Since 2013, China has implemented the BRI plan (Belt and Road Initiatives), a proposal for international cooperation, with the aim of creating a giant global investment program, in which countries from all continents, which make up about a third of the world economy, will participate.

According to research conducted by Fudan University (Shanghai – China), the New Silk Road has already invested $ 59.5 billion, or about 315 billion riyals, in 2021, in the infrastructure of countries. China’s investment plan includes 65 countries, home to about 62% of the population and 30% of the world’s GDP.

São Luis de Maranhão was highlighted in the study Strategic locations for logistics distribution centers along the belt and RawalD, 2022, prepared by the most famous experts in the world. The capital of Maranhão has exceptional conditions to receive such a project due to road and rail connections and exceptional port conditions. An example is the connection made by the North-South Railway, the main freight transport hub in Brazil, which connects the rail networks of the five regions of the country. In the area called Arco Norte, that is, above the 16th parallel, no country has similar transport logistics conditions.

For the Minister of Economic Development, José Reinaldo Tavares, the inclusion of São Luis in the largest economic expansion program in the world, will ensure the provision of huge resources for infrastructure, commodity distribution centers and privileged access for exports to the other countries that make up the project.

“In addition to strengthening this essential partnership with China, Professor Lee’s arrival will provide us with the essential information for an unprecedented stage of Maranhão’s social and economic development, and of course to prepare for it,” explains the former governor.