Expert urges countries to seize opportunities of new Silk Road

Countries should seize the opportunities of the new pathways and networks to be created along a rejuvenated Silk Road, says the head of a Yerevan-based think tank.

"In history, we know the Silk Road was a very crucial lifeline not only of trade, commerce and mobility from the East to the West, but also in terms of civilization," Richard Giragossian, director of the Regional Studies Center, told Xinhua on Monday.

"While the future of the modern Silk Road is increasingly moving from the West to the East driven by Chinese energy demand and economic growth, the rise of China is the new anchor of the new Silk Road," he said.

The new Silk Road, more specifically the idea of creating an economic belt stretching along the ancient Silk Road that historically links China with Central Asia and Europe, was recently proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping, who eyes the cultural revival of time-honored trade routes as a way of developing political and economic ties.

The idea, Giragossian said, has two implications. "The first is (that) those peoples, those countries failing to see the strategic opportunity from the Silk Road will be left behind."

"The second ... is that when we look at the strategic trajectory of the new Silk Road, it's also much less about the old concept of pipelines: the most important pipelines in terms of this new Silk Road will not only be those carrying gas and oil, but fiber optic pipelines."

In other words, modern technology will actually elevate the significance of the new Silk Road and create new unification elements rather than divisions between partners along this new Silk Road, said the expert.