The Director-General of the Nigerian
Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr. Dakuku Peterside, has
said that the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), also known as the Silk
Road Economic Belt and the 21st-century Maritime Silk Road, will be a game
changer for global transport and substantially affect the pattern of global
commerce. Dakuku stated this in Dubai during the Dubai Maritime Summit 2018,
which was part of the events at the five-day UAE Maritime Week 2018 that ended
on November 1.
Speaking on the benefits and risks
of the BRI, a Chinese government development strategy aimed at enhancing
regional connectivity through infrastructure development and investments in
Europe, Asia and Africa, the DG urged African and Middle East countries to plan
mitigation measures against potential risk elements of the initiative. He
identified the likely risk elements to include trade imbalance in favour of
China and Chinese control of trade infrastructure, which will give it a lot of
leverage in the global market place.
Dakuku said the “Chinese policy will
affect port calls and hub decisions, which may adversely affect ports of Africa
and Middle East; Chinese political influence and dominance leading to
reintroduction of Sino centric order is imminent; the tanker market will shrink
substantially, as pipelines across continents will be the preferred mode of
transportation of oil and gas.”
However, he said the benefits of the
Chinese economic initiative outweighed the risks.
At the event, the panellists
unanimously agreed that the China Belt and Road initiative would open new
markets in global commerce, improve connectivity between modes of transport,
enhance speed and efficiency at the ports, open new international trade routes,
and boost technology transfer.
On the panel to discuss the
initiative were Managing Director of Precious Shipping, Khalid Hashim; Chief
Executive Officer of King Abdallah Port, Rayan Qutub; Chief Executive Officer
of Drewey, Tim Power; and CCO of Abu Dhabi Ports, Ross Thompson.
The Dubai Maritime Summit brings
together the maritime sector’s leaders, decision makers, policymakers,
high-level government officials, and regional and international maritime
industry leaders to deliberate on issues affecting the global maritime
industry. Previous editions included some of the most distinguished local and
international guests, such as Secretary-General of the International Maritime
Organisation (IMO), Kitack Lim, and UAE Minister of Infrastructure Development
and Chairman of the Federal Transport Authority, Land and Maritime, H.E. Dr.
Abdullah Belhaif Al Nuaimi.
The Belt and Road initiative is the
signature policy of Chinese President Xi Jinping. The basic idea behind it is
to boost trade and economic integration among the countries in the initiative
through investments in roads, pipelines, ports, communication networks and
other such infrastructure that promotes connectivity.
The Dakuku-led administration of
NIMASA has continued to collaborate with other maritime nations to transform
and bring Nigeria’s maritime sector to international limelight, so that it can
compete favourably with those of other countries.
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