The “new Silk Road” is re-emerging as an important East-East corridor. The Arab world and Asia are rediscovering their history, a legacy of trade corridors and investment ties. In the past, Arab dhows sailed the waters of the Indian Ocean, and Asian caravans transported textiles and spices across the desert. Today, the oil-rich Gulf and an “energy-hungry” Asia are intensifying their political relations and boosting their financial ties. This old phenomenon has a catchy nickname: the “new Silk Road”, a road regularly traveled by a growing number of heads of state, paying each other visits, building mutual trust, and enhancing economic links.

Cooperation between Kuwait and China has deepened. In 2005, the Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA - Kuwait’s sovereign wealth fund) established the Kuwait China Investment Company (KCIC) as a key investment vehicle in Asia, to take advantage of growing trade flows and investment opportunities in the fields of agribusiness, energy, real estate, infrastructure, and financial services. In 2008, Sino-Kuwaiti trade volume hit a record high of $6.78 billion, up 85 percent from the $3.67 billion of 2007.

The world’s centre of economic gravity is moving “East”. This tectonic shift in the globe’s economy, often overlooked, it’s gaining momentum. Asia and the Gulf are rising. Over the last ten years, trade and investment between the Middle East and Asia quadrupled, and are expected to rise further over the next decade. During the recent global recession, the two regions kept growing. Every day, Middle Eastern resources – above all, capital and energy - spur East Asian growth, and Asian governments seek in the Arab world supplies for their domestic demand, and markets for their goods. Over the 21st century, the Gulf’s substantial financial liquidity will be available to finance Asia’s high growth, and the region will achieve a stronger global position. It’s new trade on old routes. ...Read more

Investment opportunities 

Agri-business and Real Estate in Asia - October 2009 ... Read More

KCIC material on the “New Silk Road” 

The New Silk Road - December 2009 ... Read More

Relevant material on the “New Silk Road” 

The Middle East Institute Policy Brief - Kuwait Looks towards the East:Relations with China 
A Special Report on: Kuwait Looks towards the East:Relations with China ... Read More