Conclusion

The 21st Century Maritime Silk Road would deeply link the entire world through people to people connectivity, culture, information and civilization, and greatly help promote trade, investment, technology, industry, tourism, agriculture, biodiversity and 'blue economy' on the basis of comparative advantages and competitive edges with improving efficiency and governance. The 21st Century Maritime Silk Road will be a powerful gateway to modernize and industrialize the economy especially of coastal countries and prove to be a glaring example to maximize the benefits from liberalization and globalization to make a breakthrough in the economic front of countries associated with MSR comprising three continents Asia, Europe and Africa.

It is extremely desirable that China, a pioneer of 21st Century Maritime Silk Road should play a proactive and lead role to design a pragmatic strategy and offer benefits to be accrued to smaller, least developed and landlocked economies like Nepal, Bhutan, Afghanistan in South Asia region and similar other disadvantageously placed nations in other continents that lack direct access to sea. It requires for promoting navigation through the oceans connecting rivers of respective countries, which would help reduce transportation costs and time with faster mobility and availability of goods at cheaper prices in respective countries.

Conceptually a brilliant ideology to enhance global connectivity and economically an outstanding proposal to spur growth with massive development of maritime infrastructure, the emergence of 21st Century Maritime Silk Road could be considered an entirely innovative economic revolution that would be instrumental to drive the future of many developing countries to a climax of progress and prosperity ensuring robust growth in future. The most significant initiative led by China under the vibrant leadership of President Xi Jinping to build 21st Century Maritime Silk Road is historically an unique phenomenon in the contemporary economic history of the world, and would certainly pave the way to help countries struggling for survival and existence to build a strong economic nation-state.

Dr Madan Kumar Dahal is the Chairman of Mega Bank Nepal Ltd.

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