China plans to invest USD 40 billion establishing a Silk Road Fund, as announced by the country’s president Xi Jinping at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation conference last week, according to Xinhua news agency.

The meeting was attended by representatives from Bangladesh, Cambodia, Laos, Mongolia, Myanmar, Pakistan and Tajikistan along with the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

The fund is intended to revive maritime and land trade links between Asian countries by financing construction of infrastructural solutions and industrial and financial cooperation to reduce bottlenecks, Xunhua said.

The fund, controlled by the Chinese government, would be open to investors from both Asia and abroad.