BEIJING, October 18. /TASS/. No conflict of interest exists in developing the Belt and Road initiative of China at the same time as the Eurasian partnership and Moscow and Beijing will work together on them both, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.
"If the Chinese Belt and Road initiative also evolves, it will have a synergistic effect on the efforts and investments we are making now, developing Russian capabilities. We are interested in this," Putin said, responding to a question whether the Greater Eurasian Partnership and the Belt and Road initiatives present a conflict of interest. "We will collaborate, there is no conflict," he noted.
The development of the Belt and Road initiative will have a direct effect on growing Russian infrastructure, Putin stressed. "In developing the Trans-Siberian Railway, the Baikal-Amur Railway, the Northern Sea Route, our North-South rail lines, the railway and the motorway network - all this, if China’s Belt and Road Initiative progresses, will create a synergistic effect," he said.
"Therefore, there is no doubt that one complements the other and our statements actually reflect this," Putin added. The Chinese initiative extends to almost all regions of the world, "the American continent, Africa, Europe, neighbors in the Asia-Pacific Region, and to Russia as well," while the Eurasian partnership is local, but still an "absolute priority" for Russia, the head of state stressed.