Lack of transparency in China's Belt and Road projects: EU firms?The Belt and Road Initiative is President Xi Jinping's signature foreign policy project. The BRI -- Chinese President Xi Jinping's signature foreign policy initiative -- has also faced criticism for swaddling poor nations with crippling debt and for being too opaque. A lack of information on deals and "non-transparent" procurement systems were the biggest barriers identified by European firms in the survey. SEE ALSO :The curse of handshakeOf the companies that bid to participate in BRI projects, only 10 percent got wind of the project through publicly available information. "The vast majority were informed either by a partner company or by the Chinese government, meaning that they were essentially hand-picked to participate," the EU Chamber said in the report.

Source: Standard Digital January 16, 2020 08:26 UTC