United Nations: Silk Road Initiative

The Silk Road Initiative (SRI) was first discussed in the 1960s. The initial plan was to build 14,000 kilometers of railway line linking Singapore and Turkey. Many governments and organizations supported the initiative, with the United Nations playing the driving role.

The United Nations Development Program formally launched the SRI in February 2008. Officials from 19 countries including China, Russia, Iran and Turkey signed letters of intent in Geneva, Switzerland, committing to invest US$43 billion in the ensuing years to reinvigorate the ancient Silk Road and other Eurasian land arteries over a combined distance of more than 7,000 kilometers.

A total of 230 projects were planned from 2008 to 2014 to improve the infrastructure along the ancient trade routes and open a number of economic corridors. The ultimate goal was to bring a renaissance to the ancient routes, providing new development opportunities for Central Asian and East European countries, and enabling the inland areas to benefit from globalization.

聯(lián)合國(guó)“絲綢之路復(fù)興計(jì)劃”

復(fù)興絲綢之路的計(jì)劃早在20世紀(jì)60年代就已經(jīng)開(kāi)始，最初的計(jì)劃是修建一條連接新加坡至土耳其的全長(zhǎng)約14000千米的鐵路。推動(dòng)絲綢之路復(fù)興的政府和組織數(shù)量眾多，發(fā)揮作用最大的是聯(lián)合國(guó)。2008年2月，聯(lián)合國(guó)開(kāi)發(fā)計(jì)劃署正式發(fā)起了“絲綢之路復(fù)興計(jì)劃”，來(lái)自包括中國(guó)、俄羅斯、伊朗、土耳其在內(nèi)的 19國(guó)官員在瑞士日內(nèi)瓦簽署意向書(shū)，決定在今后數(shù)年投入430億美元，激活古絲綢之路和其他一些古老的歐亞大陸通道，全長(zhǎng)7000多千米。該計(jì)劃由230個(gè)項(xiàng)目組成，期限為2008年至2014年，投資主要用于改善古絲綢之路等歐亞大陸通道的基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施并開(kāi)發(fā)多條經(jīng)濟(jì)走廊。該計(jì)劃旨在使古老的絲綢之路重現(xiàn)輝煌，為中亞、東歐等國(guó)提供機(jī)會(huì)，并讓歐亞大陸腹地分享全球化帶來(lái)的好處。