... caused by internal instability in the country.
As early as 2009, the Chinese government
invested
USD 58 million to enlarge the port of Tripoli. China is still heavily
investing
in the expansion of Lebanese port infrastructure. The main reason for these investments, as with other countries in the Levant, is the development needed to expand the ‘boundaries’ for BRI, of which Lebanon, having signed an agreement with China, is already an integral part.
In addition to economic interaction, other ties are also enhanced. In 2020, China and Lebanon
signed
an inter-governmental agreement to establish cultural centers ...
... became possible largely due to a significant improvement in the investment climate and the ubiquitous introduction of public-private partnerships. In total, the
list of investment projects
has more than 60 positions, and the total amount of possible investments exceeds
USD 40 billion.
The Padma Bridge Rail Link Project with an eponymous
multi-purpose bridge
, connecting the southwest with the northern and eastern regions, can be seen as the flagship project. In the future, the plan calls for establishing regular high-speed traffic between Dhaka ...
... is not high [
4
].
As for investment, although
within the framework of the format in 2014
a $10 billion line of credit was opened to CEE, and China launched two phases of the Investment Cooperation Fund, in 2014 and 2018. When compared with Chinese investments in large EU countries, these figures are not excessive. Cumulative Chinese FDI exceeds 1% of the total only in the economies of Hungary, Romania and Slovenia [
5
].
As for the BRI projects, the most consistently implemented is the development of the Greek port of Piraeus and the construction of the Budapest-Belgrade railway. Significantly, it was Greece and Hungary that in different years hindered the anti-Chinese initiatives ...