European visit to find economic synergies

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang visits Brussels for his first gathering with new EU leaders and the 17th China-EU leaders' meeting. [China Daily]

Premier Li Keqiang arrives in Brussels as countries finalize infrastructure bank

Premier Li Keqiang arrived in Brussels on Sunday afternoon, hoping to pair the Chinese leadership’s biggest economic ambition, its Belt and Road Initiative, with the need for liquidity and infrastructure upgrading in Europe.

At the same time, 14 European countries are among the 57 prospective nations expected to sign the final articles on Monday for the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, an institution set up to finance regional infrastructure construction.

If both proceed as planned, experts said, more synergies between the economies of Europe and Asia will be created.

Europe would also see more capital flowing into its 315 billion euro ($350 billion) Investment Plan for Europe, which European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker unveiled in November.

Both events will promote domestic demand in Asia and Europe and help lift China’s sluggish exports, said Zhao Junjie, a researcher on European international relations at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Fredrik Erixon, director of the European Center for International Political Economy, a think tank in Brussels, says Europe is investing in domestic infrastructure, some of which can be connected with the Belt and Road Initiative.