Economic Effects of One Belt and One Road Project on Central Asian Countries

Abstract

The One Belt One Road (OBOR) project has been resuscitated by China, the world's second economy, and is an enormous project that has the prospective to appearance the global economy. Central Asian countries, which have rich energy resources, achieved their independence due to the dissolution of the Soviet Union (USSR) in 1991 and became an area of attentiveness for the world, attracting attention thanks to the CKD project apprenticed by China. While this project facilitates the association of China to Europe via highways and railways via Central Asia, the OBOR project has gained particular importance for these countries, which will have the opportunity to bring their natural resources to the international market thanks to the projects to be carried out. Within the scope of this project, Central Asian countries. China needs energy imports to stabilize its growing economy. Hence, it is essential for both sides to enlarge the groundwork facilities and pipelines to be built in these countries to import plentiful natural energy resources into Central Asia. As a matter of fact, it is possible to say that in a term of global economic wars, China has the power to undermine the region in order to prevent the BRG project from being launched over Central Asia. While China was trying to take precautions against the political instability arising from the region, it continued its efforts to maintain its relations with Central Asian countries within the framework of the OBOR project. In this research, the economic importance of the Central Asian countries for the OBOR project, the economic potential of these countries, the financing of the OBOR project, the connection routes for China to connect with Europe via Central Asia with this project, and the expectations from China's economic OBOR project were examined.