According to Kenneth Kriz, a transportation route is a geographical region between two points that connects various hubs and facilitates the movement of people and goods. One or more routes connecting economic activity centers make create a corridor. These routes share transfer stops but connect to the same terminals with different alignments. Therefore, a transit corridor that carries oil, natural gas, coal, electricity, and other commodities between regions of energy and goods supply and consumption might be described as an “economic corridor.”
In our rapidly evolving world, there is a political and economic shift in favour of Asia, which is expanding quickly and has enormous potential for natural resources and human capital that is still mostly untapped. An obvious example in this context is Russia’s announced initiative to create a “Greater Eurasian Partnership” on the largest continent in the world, which would include states like Pakistan, China, India, Iran, and other regional nations based on their pre-existing cooperation structures (the Eurasian Economic Union, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN).
The notion of the large Central Eurasian regions being geopolitically and economically united allows for the designation of China and Iran as the respective eastern and western poles, Russia as the northern pole, and Pakistan as the southern pole. About 17 percent of the global GDP comprises these four nations. Their multifaceted cooperation may not only aid in the expansion of their connection (transport, energy, military-technical, and humanitarian), but also in the inclusive, sustainable socio-economic development aimed at easing tension and bringing about peace in the region.
This quadrangular state formation seems natural and may be quite encouraging, particularly as all these countries’ relations with Washington is deteriorating. The USA’s increased economic, political, and diplomatic pressure on these regimes is responsible for fostering tighter ties between Moscow, Islamabad, Beijing, and Teheran. Extending their interstate cooperation on bilateral, quadrilateral, and multilateral levels within various international and regional platforms, such as the United Nations, its specialized agencies, and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, may be beneficial.
First and foremost, Russia and Pakistan, with their ongoing efforts to make up for missed opportunities to advance their mutually beneficial collaboration, may be among the entities with the greatest interest in developing this regional interstate cooperation. There have been many ups and downs in the interaction between these two countries over the course of their 70 years-plus of interstate history, according to a thorough examination of the evolution of their relations.
As a result of both governments’ participation in developing the shared economic and security structure of Greater Eurasia, their bilateral relations have recently and progressively reached a new level of mutually beneficial partnership.
The implementation of the Russian integration project of the EEU, opens the possibility of creating the Greater Eurasian Partnership, in tandem with the Chinese mega-initiative of the Belt and Road Initiative and its flagship project, CPEC. In this context, Russia supports Pakistan’s idea to create a new strategic economic bloc known as the “Golden Ring Economic Bloc (GREB),” which would also include China, Iran, and Turkey in addition to Russia and Pakistan. These five nations, which geographically form a sort of ring around Central Asia and Afghanistan, account for over 30 percent of all human and natural resources, giving GREB its name. The GREB concept appears to be a more focused attempt to promote the country’s geostrategic importance for regional connectivity and Eurasian integration in the rapidly changing global and regional environment. It is strategically promising and advantageous for all stakeholders. The emergence of the GREB initiative as a national geostrategic and geoeconomic concept of self-identification demonstrates Islamabad’s intention to shift its foreign policy towards regional integration by constructing a new variant of a regional economic bloc that does not conflict with, but rather supplements, the existing Russia and China inclusive economic projects of Eurasian integration (GEP-EEU and BRI-CPEC), in order to harmonize all of them. Through the connectivity of transportation and energy between the nations along the currently resurrected historic Great Silk Road, the world —including Russia —is becoming more interested in the Central Eurasian region, which is developing rapidly but is the least interconnected. Due to its convergence with the Russian concept of GEP-EEU, Moscow also supports the Chinese mega plan of BRI-CPEC. It offers a chance to expand partnerships across Eurasia and achieve a more thorough regionalization of the continent. Due to Iran’s significance in helping to stabilize the situation in Central and South Asia, Russia supports the option of CPEC’s continued growth through its inclusion in addition to Afghanistan (which borders China and Pakistan).
This economic golden ring can be further strengthened by formalizing a strategic policy, fostering greater cooperation, establishing and upholding principles, engaging in fruitful debate, and recognizing and defending the shared interests of all member states.
The establishment of a strategic alliance between these nations inside the CPEC framework can support both regional stability and the socioeconomic development of those nations. Moscow is interested in the development and implementation of CPEC principally as a means of enhancing regional connectivity in Greater Eurasia. Russian specialists claim their country values Pakistan’s geographic location and wants to help it peacefully join the multipolar Eurasian system built through Sino-Russian strategic cooperation. Additionally, it provides Moscow with a chance to penetrate the brand-new Asian gas supply markets, which the Russian energy behemoth views as a substitute for the flow of European gas. A further significant milestone towards regional connection was the arrival of the first shipment of oil from Russia in Pakistan. Pakistan has paid for this cheap crude oil in Chinese currency, a significant change from the country’s US dollar-dominated export payment policy. The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs says that in principle, our way is open for the trade of crude oil in Chinese currency.
Russia has also suggested a land route to deliver oil through Iranian territory. By utilizing this corridor, the participating nations can utilize barter commerce and similar methods to fully utilize each other’s resources and meet their requirements without relying on those states who might otherwise urge them to forgo their national interests. Additionally, these nations stand to gain from their unfinished initiatives like the TAPI and IP pipelines. Business to Business (B2B) Barter Trade Mechanism 2023 has been introduced by the government of Pakistan recently. Pakistan would be permitted to export a wide variety of items to Russia, Iran, and Afghanistan under the new regulations. Pakistan would buy necessary goods from Iran, Russia, and Afghanistan in exchange, including crude oil, LNG, and LPG, to meet its energy needs. In addition to ensuring a consistent supply of energy resources, this strategic barter system will help these states become less reliant on conventional trading practices.
This economic golden ring can be further strengthened by formalizing a strategic policy, fostering greater cooperation, establishing and upholding principles, engaging in fruitful debate, and recognizing and defending the shared interests of all member states.
