Belt & Road Industrial and Commercial Alliance (#BRICA) launched in Beijing

The Belt & Road Industrial and Commercial Alliance (BRICA), with 22 founding members from 20 countries, was officially founded in Beijing on 16 June, writes James Wilson.

BRICA is an international non-governmental organization that brings together national business associations from Asia and Europe. The name ‘One Belt, One Road’ comes from an initiative of the Chinese government aimed at establishing a new model of international cooperation and development through the strengthening of the existing regional bilateral and multilateral mechanisms that involve China.

"The establishment of the alliance will promote industrial investment and economic and trade cooperation among countries along the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road," said Li Yizhong, co-chair of BRICA.

It has been described as one of the most important international investment and growth initiatives since the Marshall Plan of the 1940s.

"Given the backdrop of the vulnerable economic recovery after the world financial crisis, China's Belt and Road Initiative strategy helps explore new modes in international cooperation and global governance," Li went on to say.

BRICA members also jointly launched the project to establish a Belt and Road Industrial Co-operation Think-Tank to pool experts and talents in various countries for multi-field co-operation on policy studies, industrial planning, and project consulting to provide intellectual support for the development of BRICA members.

In order to provide financial support to co-operation among BRICA members, and to implement the strategy and investment projects in the countries that have joined it, China has set up the Global Investment, Merger and Acquisition Fund Alliance, which already has over $40 billion in authorised capital.

One of the strategically most important European countries to participate in the alliance is Ukraine, represented by the Ukrainian League of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs. Their representative on the Supervisory Board is the organization’s Vice President Vasyl Khemelnytsky.

“We want to ensure that our partners see Ukraine not only as a transit zone for shipment of goods to Europe, but also as a platform for the formation of new enterprises,” Khmelnytsky said.

Khemelnytsky hopes to attract more investment and promote the interests of Ukrainian business through the establishment of this new alliance.

James Wilson is the founding director of the EU Ukraine Business Council.

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