Reconstruction of the ancient Silk Road through Central Asia to Europe would create the world’s longest project. The 6,000-kilometer-long dream envisioned by Chinese President Xi Jinping would open a new frontier for Chinese development. The Silk Road proposal “has attracted global attention as a framework covering a wide range of issues,” said Pan Guang, Vice Chairman of the Chinese Society of Middle East Studies. The initiative involves both overland and maritime routes. The land route would generally follow the Silk Road of 2,000 years ago. It would connect the city of Xian in northwest China with Venice, where Marco Polo began his legendary voyage to the Orient. The 21st century incarnation would pass through Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Romania and Germany. “The New Silk Road will enable trade to flow easily east and west just as it did centuries ago,” Erlan Idrissov, Kazakhstan’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, said in a recent article about improved regional economic integration. Trade made the original Silk Road flourish for 1,600 years, and trade is expected to underpin the development of the New Silk Road. Investment opportunities are expected in infrastructure projects such as energy pipelines, highways and rail links. China’s New Silk Road concept also involves sea routes connecting ports in Indonesia, Thailand and India. Some initiatives that help define the New Silk Road concept are already under way. Chengdu started freight rail services to Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus and Poland last year. The high-speed train, with a capacity of 41 containers, takes 14 days – five days longer than air freight but 25% cheaper.