Back in 2013, China's President Xi Jinping announced the One Belt One Road (OBOR) initiative to modernize infrastructure along the ancient Silk Road trading routes. This policy is poised to reshaped the 21st century economy. The project is a potential win win for China and its surrounding neighbors. For China, it seeks to create trade and investment opportunity in infrastructure and construction providing China with a new channel to broaden its export market. For its neighbors, they will benefit from modernized roads and power plants which will help their economies flourish and grow. This rising tide should lift all boats!
The OBOR initiative aims to reach:
- 71 countries along the land and maritime routes.
- An aggregate population of 4.5 billion.
- A total nominal GDP of $23 trillion, representing 65% of world population and 34% of the global GDP in 2016.
This morning I had the pleasure of attending the ringing of the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange thanks to Kraneshares who has an ETF investing in companies benefiting from the OBOR initiative and yes the ticker is OBOR. Their China ETFs are an interesting way to get exposure to the Chinese markets and also getting diversification.
Header photo from Unsplash Ling Tang
