LAST month, I had the privilege of attending the "Belt and Road" forum in Beijing, China's biggest diplomatic event this year. The summit gathered heads of 29 nations, over 60 international organisations including the IMF and World Bank, and many private organisations. Since that gathering, much ink has been spilt on what One Belt One Road, since renamed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), augurs for Asia and the rest of the world. Not surprisingly, reactions have been mixed, with supporters applauding China's leadership in an increasingly inward-looking world and detractors concerned about its growing influence and hegemonic ambitions. My view is that both commercially and ideologically, BRI offers many benefits to us here in Asia, and closer to home, in Singapore.

THE COMMERCIAL VIEW

As Asia urbanises and the middle class becomes larger, the need for basic public utilities - transport, power and water - continues to increase. In fact, the Asian Development Bank recently suggested that Asian countries need as much as US$1.7 trillion of infrastructure investment every year until 2030. This can be partially met within Asia, particularly by economies such as China and Japan with their large savings pools. The problem is that, in the past, these surpluses have tended to go to the West, often to the US, instead of being intermediated in the region itself. This has left deficit Asian countries with huge infrastructure investment requirements - Indonesia, Vietnam, Philippines, Bangladesh and Pakistan - no better off.