Road starts here — New Zealand to catch the “B&R” train

WELLINGTON, March 28 (Xinhua) — To many in New Zealand, the Oceanian state looks like an isolated outpost with economic powerhouses far, far away in another hemisphere.

It’s at the end of a trail that snakes through Southeast Asia before a three-hour flight from Australia lands you in one of its handful of international airports.

Small wonder that the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative, a massive economic and trade project for common development and prosperity in countries along its routes in Europe, Africa and Asia, is little talked about here.

However, New Zealanders are now starting to realize that while their country might be a terminal on the Initiative’s 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, it won’t be left out, surely after signing on Tuesday an agreement on the Initiative with China.