Page 23 - bne IntelliNews 26th May

Weekly Lists
May 26, 2017 www.intellinews.com I Page 23
bne:
Infrastructure
Turkish Islamic
banks assoc signs infrastructure finance deal with IDB
Slovakia seeks to encourage Chinese visitors
Turkey’s Association of Participation Banks (TKBB) and the Saudi Arabia-based Islamic Development Bank (IDB) on May 25 signed a cooperation deal for financing infrastructure projects, Reuters reported.
The cooperation deal between IDB and TKBB comes at a time when the Ankara government is planning mega infrastructure projects
as part of its efforts to boost economic activity. The government will continue to pump money into such projects, PM Binali Yildirim told Bloomberg in an interview on April 25.
The Slovak economy ministry plans to boost its diplomatic presence in China in response to a surge in incoming visitors from the east- ern giant. The number of Chinese tourists visiting Slovakia grew 46.8% to 41,000 last year, local media reported on May 22.
The data is just the latest excerpt from the economy ministry’s 2017-20 strategy to create stronger ties with China, which was ap- proved by the government in April. Earlier notes included the news that Chinese investors are interested in acquiring a 30-year conces- sion to run Bratislava’s M.R. Stefanik Airport.
A regional push by Chinese companies to establish hubs in the Visegrad area for investors and tourists has seen several Czech travel-related assets acquired or eyed. Slovakia is competing with its neighbours to seal a significant role in Beijing’s One Belt, One Road concept, which aims to build transport infrastructure to West- ern Europe.
Iran has signed a €2.2bn deal with the China National Machin- ery Import and Export Corporation (CMC) for the electrification of nearly 1,000km of the Tehran-Mashhad rail route, according to a May 21 report in the Financial Tribune.
The deal will see the busiest railway line in the country obtain a much-needed upgrade to accelerate commuter and freight connec- tions between Iran’s two largest cities to 200km/h.
Iran, China finalise €2.2bn rail deal to upgrade Tehran- Mashhad track