The potential benefits of China’s “New Silk Road” international trade initiative were the focus of discussions at EY’s Shanghai office, which hosted participants in the 2015 CEIBS-World Economic Forum Global Leadership Fellows Programme. CEIBS’ David Gosset moderated.

Jesse Lv, EY Partner of Transaction Tax and co-leader of China Tax Outbound Center, explained China’s “One Belt, One Road” initiative, which will see China invest in developing an infrastructure network that will stretch across Southeast Asia and the Middle East to Western Europe. Lv also shared an analysis of the initiative’s key sectors and risks. EY Partner and French Foreign Trade Advisor Bertrand Regnier shared his views on China’s growth, and outbound investment.

Participants also heard from Mr. Leslie Maasdorp, Vice President of the New Development Bank, the new multilateral development bank which is operated by the BRICS states (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), and headquartered in Shanghai. Maasdorp introduced the financial architecture of the "One Belt, One Road" strategy and gave a brief overview of the New Development Bank.

The 2015 CEIBS-World Economic Forum Global Leadership Fellows Program brings the World Economic Forum’s Global Leadership Fellows, who come from more than 25 countries, to the CEIBS Shanghai Campus to gain theoretical and practical insights into Chinese business and society through a combination of company visits and classroom lectures. The four-day program is titled “Insight into China”.