Experiencing another downturn in its relations with the West, Iran has been more actively “looking to the East” to pursue stronger political and economic cooperation with China. Tehran remains an enthusiastic supporter of Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), despite the withdrawal of Chinese companies from a number of projects due to U.S. sanctions. Iran still hopes to benefit from investments, technologies and new connectivity routes promoted under the BRI umbrella. This roundtable will discuss the prospects of Iran becoming a node of the BRI, and the promises and challenges of Chinese investment in the Iranian economy.
Speaker(s):
Eyck Freymann, Ph.D. Candidate, Oxford University
Nader Habibi, Professor of Practice, Brandeis University
Dina Esfandiary, Senior Advisor, International Crisis Group
Moderators:
Nargis Kassenova, Senior Fellow, Program on Central Asia, Davis Center
James Gethyn Evans, Communications Officer, Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies; Ph.D. Candidate, Department of History, Harvard University
