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Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged $40 billion to set up a Silk Road fund that will finance the construction of infrastructure linking markets across Asia, according to Bloomberg News.
The fund's goal is to "break the connectivity bottleneck" in Asia, said Xi during a meeting in Beijing with leaders from Bangladesh, Cambodia, Laos, Mongolia, Myanmar, Pakistan and Tajikistan, along with representatives from the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.
"Such a framework accommodates the needs of various countries and covers both land and sea-related projects," Xi said, adding that Asian nations are ready to "get on board the train of China's development."
The plan to revive the centuries-old Silk Road trading route was first mentioned in public by Xi in September last year during a visit to Kazakhstan.
The land-based route is expected to start at Xi'an, the capital of Shaanxi Province on northwest China, and will head southwest across Central Asia, the Middle East and Europe.
On the other hand, the sea-based route is planned to start near Guangdong on the South China Sea and move to the Malacca Strait and the Indian Ocean. From there it will traverse the Horn of Africa, heading into the Red Sea and the Mediterranean.
Both the land and maritime trade routes are planned to end in Venice.
Linking Asian countries is "not merely about building roads and bridges or making linear connection of different places," Xi said.
According to the Chinese president, building the new Silk Road "should be a three-way combination of infrastructure, institutions and people-to-people exchanges and a five-way progress in policy communication, infrastructure connectivity, trade link, capital flow and understanding among peoples."
China is seen as keen on spearheading the Free-Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific as part of a comprehensive effort to counter U.S. domination of global trade and financial regulation.
Last month, 20 Asian countries led by China launched the $50-billion Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank to finance infrastructure development in the region.
For the Silk Road fund, China will set aside tens of billions of dollars from its foreign exchange reserves to finance the establishment of the fund, according to Bloomberg.
