Vadzim Hihin

(Editor-in-Chief, Belaruskaya Dumka Magazine)

Author

Hihin Vadzim Frantsavich, born in 1977, has an associate PhD degree in history. He is Associate Professor, Editor-in-chief of Belaruskaya Dumka magazine, Vice Chairman of Belarus Association of Journalists. He used to work for the press service of the Prosecutor General and was Head of the Minsk City Organisation Belarusian Patriotic Union of Youth. In 2007, he became Editor-in-chief of Belaruskaya Dumka, initiated by the Presidential Administration. He has published more than 50 papers.

Abstract

Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia signed a treaty on May 29, 2014 to establish the Eurasian Economic Union, ushering the integration of the Eurasian continent. Back in September 2013, Chinese President Xi Jinping proposed the initiative of co-building the Silk Road Economic Belt along with European and Asian countries. What are the relations between the two?The Silk Road Economic Belt is a cooperation initiative and a concept focusing on development. The implementation of it relies on the existing bilateral and multilateral mechanisms among China and other countries and the existing effective regional cooperation platforms. The initiative does not imitate other cooperative mechanisms such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization or the Eurasian Economic Union, let alone competing with them. On the contrary, the implementation of the Silk Road Economic Belt will give new content and more momentum to these mechanisms. The initiative of the Silk Road Economic Belt is a key step in China's cause of deepening reform and opening-up, and has been written into the documents at the Third Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. It has drawn wide attention and positive response from both China and the international community.The Silk Road Economic Belt inherits the spirit of openness from the ancient Silk Road; it also learns from the open regionalism in Asian nations, which make it appealing. Meanwhile, the initiative does not start from scratch, but is based on previous cooperations and is a continuation of these cooperations. China and the representatives from the Eurasian Economic Union can put the two projects together, which will bring in the effect of "one plus one is greater than two".