Reuters
❝ Italy has become the first developed economy to sign up to China’s global investment programme which has raised concerns among Italy’s Western allies.
A total of 29 deals amounting to €2.5bn ($2.8bn) were signed during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Rome…
❝ The new Silk Road has another name – the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) – and it involves a wave of Chinese funding for major infrastructure projects around the world, in a bid to speed Chinese goods to markets further afield. Critics see it as also representing a bold bid for geo-political and strategic influence…
❝ The levels of debt owed by African and South Asian nations to China have raised concerns in the West and among citizens – but roads and railways have been built that would not exist otherwise..
Here I sit in the richest, most powerful country in world history. Our roads suck. Bridges suck. Water systems throughout the land are polluted. And more. Our government doesn’t make infrastructure a priority. Our politicians are glad to blather about their support for rebuilding and repairing national infrastructure decades old – as long as they aren’t actually pushed into doing a damned thing.
New Silk Road, old Silk Road. If someone is putting their political and economic clout behind better, easier commerce…try to keep the whining down to a minimum, folks. You’re on the wrong side of history. I know what construction contracts look like going back to the original build-out of the US Interstate System. It was justified to keep our military happy. Which was Cold War bullshit. The victory was owned by US trucking companies.
Eideard 
(12 July 2019): Common transport infrastructure: Welfare effects of the Belt and Road Initiative https://voxeu.org/article/welfare-effects-belt-and-road-initiative
Vice Ministry of Commerce Qian Keming said Friday [7/11/19] in Beijing that China has signed cooperation agreements to build the “Belt and Road” (BR) Initiative with 18 Arab countries. https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/China-Belt-and-Road-Project-to-Encompass-18-Arab-Countries-20190713-0004.html In 2018, the bilateral trade volume between China and the Arab countries reached US$244.3 billion, which meant an annual increase of 28 percent.
In that same year, Chinese companies signed contracts for US$35.6 billion to carry out projects in the Arab countries, US$1.2 billion of which were direct investments in energy, infrastructure and manufacturing. According to The Arab News, in 2016, China became the largest investor in the Arab world, with almost US$30 billion in foreign direct investment; in the same year, the U.S. investments only accounted US$6.9 billion.
Greece and Italy are the only major European economies to have engaged with the project due to the West’s concern over China’s growing strength as illustrated by BRI [Belt and Road Initiative]. https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Greece-Appreciates-Joining-Chinas-Belt-and-Road-Initiative-20190515-0022.html
Meanwhile: Russia to Build 2000km [1,243 mi] highway that will become part of the fastest trucking route between China and Europe. https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Russia-2000km-Toll-Highway-to-be-Built-Across-Country-20190709-0033.html
“Over Local Objections, China Muscles Into Belarus” (NYT 7/20/19) https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/20/world/europe/china-belarus-battery-protests.html
The Great Stone Industrial Park is the biggest such overseas venture financed by China, according to the state-run newspaper China Daily, which hailed Belarus as the “gateway to Europe,” although the country is not part of the European Union and any goods it produces are subject to steep tariffs if they enter Europe.