China and EU should team up in BRI to propel connectivity

When the Italian government endorsed the Belt and Road Initiative last week, senior officials had hoped that Palermo, capital of Sicily, could one day become a major port for the rapidly expanding trade between China and Africa. That was at least my feeling during the interviews with Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte and Undersecretary of Economic Development Michele Geraci.

News reports show that Palermo-based Istmo Srl has been working on a more than $5 billion investment plan that would expand the port's handling capacity from the current 10,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) to 16 million TEUs, larger than the present cargo traffic in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Chinese investment is much welcomed.

Not an expert on port development, I was actually a bit surprised at how small the Palermo port is during my visit there last week. Nevertheless, it did not prevent me from thinking that such an ambitious goal could be achieved.