Signal Western infrastructure initiatives for Eurasia, from BUILD to PGII, show no visible results

Summary

The report lists a series of Western projects aimed at Eurasia: the 2018 BUILD legislation, the Blue Dot Network launched in 2019 with Japan and Australia, and the G7's Build Back Better World scheme of 2021. Build Back Better World was renamed the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment in 2022, and the United States and G7 partners pledged to mobilize 600 billion dollars by 2027. The authors state that these plans and strategies have not yet produced any visible results. Instead, the real challenge to Russia's traditional control of logistics routes, infrastructure and economic leadership in Eurasia came from China after it launched the Belt and Road in 2013. Western ideas for a Middle Corridor bypassing Russia and for Caspian energy corridors also fell short of their high initial expectations.