ArmInfo.The participation of Armenia in the Chinese the "One Belt One Road" project is hampered by Russia, and Azerbaijan - the lack of a strategy. Azerbaijani political scientist Zardusht Alizade expressed a similar opinion to ArmInfo.
"Azerbaijan has already invested huge funds in the construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway. In theory, this project should become an integral component of the Chinese " One Belt, One Road "project. However, the BTK project today works at 2% of its planned capacity. The reasons are incompetent management, the lack of a clear economic concept and political will, since the existing economic development strategy relies on gradually depleting oil and gas. Accordingly, only changes in our strategy will allow us to get to generate revenues from Chinese transit, "he stressed.
The South Caucasus is a very important component put forward by Beijing in 2010, the "One Belt - One Road" project. In the West, the region is adjacent to Turkey, in the southeast with Iran, the states also involved in this Chinese geo-economic projection.
According to the forecasts of a political scientist, China will work with all countries of the region in any case, regardless of the depth and causes of their problems. In particular, Moscow is on the way of Armenia in the direction of participation in the "One Belt One Road" project, which significantly reduces the desire and, accordingly, the chances of Yerevan participation. Meanwhile, Georgia fits perfectly into the overall project strategy, already having in the eyes of Beijing its reputation and capabilities of the transit country.
According to Alizadeh, Azerbaijan in any case is trying to deepen relations with China and has already signed mutual investment agreements with Beijing totaling $ 821 million. In turn, Russia, whose interests are in direct contradiction, is doing everything possible to reduce the profitability of the project by offering alternatively, its own Trans-Siberian Railway.