The main objective of the SRI's trade component is to help improve the policy and legal environment for trade and transit in the Silk Road area.
Following the collapse of the former Soviet Union in 1991, the Central Asian Republics (CAR) have demonstrated a strong desire to expand their economic lineages with new regions, in particular towards Europe and East/Southeast Asia. China, with its new trade-oriented policy and dynamic economy, is keen to revive the historical Silk Road (SR), and is eager to address trade and transport issues in a multilateral manner.
However, the end of the Soviet Union led to a dramatic collapse of trade within and beyond Central Asia. Transit was impeded both at the new republican borders, and within individual Central Asian countries.
The Silk Road project has a two-fold approach to enhancing trade development of land-locked Central Asia (CA) and making its markets more accessible. First, it seeks to promote a favourable policy-making and legal environment for decision-making on trade and transit issues in the SR area. It will provide policy analysis and regulatory environment assessment, training and workshops. In addition, it will organise round table discussions for policy makers and government officials on trade and transit issues through high level government dialogue mechanisms such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).
Second, the project encourages greater participation of the private sector, especially small and medium-sized enterprises (SME's) in trade and transit promotion in the region. The SCO will provide a platform for dialogues between governments, businesses, and public-private partnerships (PPP's) among the member states. Such dialogues will focus on defining the market needs as well as improving transparency and information flows.
In order to make business more effective at the regional level, the project will work with the SCO Business Council in initiating capacity building programmes such as training and workshops on trade and transit for business. Additionally, it aims to establish professional business associations' networks in the region.
