The «One Belt, One Road» concept is an international initiative of China aimed at improving existing and creating new trade routes. It was first announced by Chinese President Xi Jinping in autumn 2013 during visits to Kazakhstan and Indonesia.

Against the prevailing narrative of the The Belt and Road as a top-down strategy to spread China’s geopolitical influence, there is the BRI’s impact through its first decade as emanating «from the middle out and bottom up» via transport-enabled corridors traversing a large number of regions within and across national territories.