Local and Transregional Perspectives on the Belt and Road Initiative

As China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) forges ahead, it continues to receive exponential media, societal and academic attention globally. Greece’s Piraeus harbor, Kenya’s SGR railway and Sri Lanka’s Hambantota port, amongst others, are often cited in many BRI discussions for diverse reasons. Reactions emanating from these discussions vary, just like the effects of the BRI projects themselves; from very successful outcomes of some; to ambivalent or detrimental effects of others; to comparative debates where BRI projects are compared to other initiatives; to reflections on debt distress amongst participant states. While engaging with notions of “de-linking” and “re-linking” for reflection and exploration of BRI effects and experiences – whereby “link” also stands for drawing from “local insights and new knowledges” – this symposium aims at analyzing current and future BRI perspectives across Asia, Africa and Europe. Within our De:Link // Re:Link research consortium project (based in Berlin), the term “local” does not only include spatial but also, and even more so, relational components. This symposium shall therefore focus on various emergent local and transregional perspectives on the BRI. We envision holding meaningful interdisciplinary discussions whose objective is to lay out and analyze interactions, tensions, challenges and prospects across and beyond specific BRI-related projects. Our deliberations will analyze experiences emanating from interactions amongst African, Chinese and European actors within the contexts of BRI-related projects and beyond. So as to participate in this symposium, kindly register using the email on the poster above.
Register to attend by emailing (mandatory):
silkroadsnairobi@gmail.com
Programme
09:30 –10:00 Arrival at IFRA
10:00 – 10:05 Welcome remarks Clélia Coret
10:05 –10:25 Introduction Kai Kresse
10:25– 10:55 John Njenga Karugia
10:55 – 11:15 Tea break for 20 mins
11:15 –11:50 Abraham Korir Sing’Oei
11:50 –12:20 Jerotich Seii
12:20 –13:00 Kelvin Saidinga and Everline Mugenya
13:00 – 14:00 Lunch break
14:00 –14:40 Kadara Swaleh
14:40 – 15:20 Gloriah Amondi
15:20 – 15:40 Tea break for 20 mins
15:40 – 16:20 Mohamed Hussein Abdille
16:20 – 17:00 Joint concluding reflections
IFRA Nairobi || Humboldt University of Berlin || Zentrum für Moderne Orient (ZMO)
OpenEdition suggests that you cite this post as follows:
IFRA Nairobi (February 6, 2024). Local and Transregional Perspectives on the Belt and Road Initiative. IFRA Nairobi. Retrieved May 19, 2025 from https://doi.org/10.58079/vria