Belt and Road: the view from Latin America

Nations across Latin America and the Caribbean have signed up to China’s Belt and Road Initiative – the BRI - and even nations that have not signed up to the initiative have been able to benefit from Chinese investment, and the broader principles and practices on which BRI is based.

Our new report shows that sentiment towards BRI in Latin America remains relatively positive. From the involvement of Chinese businesses in Panama Canal ports to Chinese investments in lithium mining and renewable energy, trans-Pacific connections between Latin American economies and China’s Asian powerhouse continue to grow.

The CMS report on BRI in Latin America is the latest in a worldwide series, built on a survey of 500 Belt and Road participants. We assess the current challenges, and the steps that businesses in the region can take to achieve both success for themselves and a positive future for BRI. We shine a spotlight on Chile and Peru, explore the impact of Covid-19 and examine the sectors where opportunities lie.

China’s economy has coped with the pandemic well. This may encourage optimism about the future of BRI and Chinese investment in BRI nations. But, as our report shows, an even greater impact may come from China’s pivot towards greener and more sustainable principles for BRI. With Latin America’s wealth of natural resources, it will be a strong partner to help China realise it’s ambitions.

As Latin American nations seek to bridge the region’s massive infrastructure gap, and to recover from the terrible damage of the pandemic, BRI – and Chinese investment more broadly – will inevitably form an important part of the equation.