CONTEMPORARY EURASIA VIII (2) ContEurVIII2 | Page 9

SAREN ABGARYAN This initiative is directed first and foremost towards reinforcing China relations with its neighboring countries, strengthening economic ties, and security cooperation. The second policy objective behind the BRI is to strengthen and accelerate the pace of economic development in the central and western regions of China, which have been lagging behind the development pace seen in the Eastern and Coastal regions of China. Three important Chinese financial institutions play a key role in the process of attracting public and private funds to establish and successfully carry out projects: China Development Bank, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), and the Silk Road Fund. 24 Thus, within 5 years, Armenia has appeared in an economic reality that is not comparable with the situation it was in at any time in its history. The country is facing new challenges and there will be many opportunities that need to be taken advantage of in the coming decades that can boost its economic growth, mainly by enlarging its small market with lower trade barriers and reaching the more than 2 billion consumer market of BRI countries. Armenia is considered one of the countries situated directly on the roadmap of the BRI, and one of the purposes of this section is to additionally stress the relative importance of the BRI for the country. Armenia currently has two infrastructure projects that can be potentially included among the BRI projects and financed for making it a transit country for foreign goods. The first project is the North-South Road Corridor investment program which intends to connect Armenia’s southern border with Iran to the northern border with Georgia. The Road Corridor project is planned to be a 556km highway with an estimated cost of USD 1.5 billion and has been already initiated thanks to funding from Asian Development Bank, European Investment Bank, and Eurasian Development Bank. 25 For receiving direct access to the railroad of the BRI, Armenia needs to build a rail station to Iran, which requires an approximately USD 3.5 billion investment, a project that China might be interested in                                                                                                                                        Commission, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Commerce with the authorization of the State Council, the People’s Republic of China on 28 March 2015 (http://en.ndrc.gov.cn/newsrelease/201503/t20150330_669367.html). 24 Davies, Goldkorn and Tomba, "One Belt One Road: International Development ", 245-250. 25 See e.g., Transport Project Implementation Organization, “North-South Road Corridor Investment Project” https://tpio.am/en/projects/North-South-Road-Corridor-Investment- Program 9