Los Angeles skyline. Good Free Photos.
The Belt and Road in California
At the recent Belt and Road Forum held in Los Angeles, California, Chinese Consul General Zhang Ping expressed optimistic views about California's close economic and cultural relationship with China, and went so far as to say that U.S. cooperation with China through the Belt and Road Initiative would start with California. As the largest state in the U.S. both by population and by economic size, California is seen by China as a gateway to the U.S., particularly because California has maintained close business ties with China and there is a substantial Chinese-American population in the state. California Governor Jerry Brown has expressed that the state needs a very close partnership with China, especially considering the state is home to the American technology and entertainment industries, and is pioneering the development of renewable energy and green technologies.
Criminal activity at a BRI harbor
Italian investigators have acquired substantial evidence stating that a Chinese criminal syndicate have been using the BRI harbor in Greek to import large quantities of counterfeit consumer goods. This criminal syndicate have also made false reports to merchants at the harbor so as to avoid paying the required tariffs.
The Asian Development Bank
Azerbaijan
The ADB will loan 900 million USD to Azerbaijan between 2018-2020. The plans for 2018-2020 will follow the bank's loan program. The first part of the plans is a 650 million USD loan for a Railway Sector development program and a Governance and Public Sector Efficiency Program.
ADB Annual Report
According to the Asian Development Bank (ADB) Annual Report 2017, the bank's annual operations reached a record 32.2 billion USD in 2017. This is a 26 percent increase from the year before. Support for climate mitigation and adaptation had a high increase of 21 percent. However, disbursements and co financing decreased and the ADB has said it will address these trends through their activities in 2018.
Pakistan’s Financial Woes
As Pakistan’s financial crisis worsens, financial institutions in China such as the China Development Bank have lent the nation nearly 2 billion USD. Pakistan has been using different loans, as well as other economic tactics like increasing custom duty rates, as means of temporarily stabilizing the Pakistani economy, as Pakistan attempts to avoid borrowing from the International Monetary Fund. However, the nation’s public debt to GDP ratio violating their own Fiscal Responsibility and Debt Limitation Act (2005), and economists predict that Pakistan will not be able to sustain itself to the end of the year without help from the IMF.
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