Geofusion – Digital Connectivity and Digital Silk Road Norbert Csizmadia The Belt and Road Initiative launched by China in 2013 comprises railway lines, the development of sea and land ports, the construction of motorways, digital developments, and the establishment and development of logistics centres, in other words, networks operating through economic corridors connecting Europe and Asia, which will form a new and interconnected Eurasia. The Belt and Road Initiative is about shifting the axis of the world economy back to land from the oceans, and restoring and rebuilding the former economic, political and cultural role of Eurasia. The Belt and Road Initiative can be described as a complex network that can be expanded flexibly in both time and space. The Silk Road consists not only of infrastructure networks but also of knowledge sharing, people-topeople connections, and cultural and financial cooperation. The Belt and Road Initiative (New Silk Road) connects the actors that constitute the new phase of globalisation: this represents around 40% of global GDP and 70% of the Earth’s population. The main hubs of the infrastructure networks built as part of the New Silk Road will reorganise the regions in terms of their significance too, with new centres cropping up. We can identify these new centres with the help of geofusion. Journal of Economic Literature (JEL) codes: F5, F6, O2, O5, R4 Keywords: connectivity, sustainability, Belt and Road Initiative, Eurasia, geofusion, geopolitics, geography
Norbert Csizmadia is the Head of the Board of Trustees of the Pallas Athene Domus Meriti Foundation (PADME). Email: csizmadia.norbert@padmebudapest.hu
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