Oyuna Baldakova is a Ph.D. Candidate at the Graduate School of East Asian Studies at the Free University of Berlin and a fellow of the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG). Her research focus is China’s Belt and Road Initiative and its potential consequences for the sustainable economic development of Central Asia. Oyuna comes from Buryatia (Russian Siberia) and have been living in Germany for the past seven years. She has completed her Bachelor’s degree in Linguistics (English and Chinese) at Buryat State University (Russia) and holds MA in Modern East Asian Studies from Goethe University Frankfurt (Germany) for which she was awarded a scholarship from the DAAD - German Academic Exchange Service. After that, she worked in the field of international development interning at UNESCO Bangkok, managing an EU-funded project in Central Asia, and running communications as vice-chair of the International Organization of Folk Art (IOV) World Youth Committee for a two-year term. She speaks fluent English, Chinese, German and Russian.

地方双赢：中亚"一带一路"倡议的联动效应研究

Voices of the Belt & Road tells the stories of people that are part of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). It demystifies the initiative by enabling you to listen to the voices of experts and policy-makers, but also the very people affected by the initiative day in and day out.

It has become fashionable to conceptualize the BRI through large numbers. But we hear very little of the people and stories behind the initiative. BRI needs stories, it needs faces and it needs voices. Voices of the Belt and Road is your chance to hear them.

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On this podcast, Ankur Shah shares his observations from driving a 4,300 km land border between China and Russia. He also gives an accurate analysis of the state of Belt and Road initiative on the ground and the nature of the cooperation between the two countries. Much of what Ankur reveals is in stark contrast to current media perceptions of the state of China-Russia cooperation with regard to infrastructure.

安然: 探索中俄边境的一带一路项目

Ankur Shah: Silk Road Explorer Investigates BRI Projects Along the Sino-Russian Border

A frank and revealing interview with Grigoris Konstantellos, Mayor of Athens Riviera, Greece. According to Grigoris, because the port is expanding with Chinese BRI investment, Athens has more jobs and more trade flows through the port. The economic benefits have been significant. The biggest benefit, however, was that coming of Chinese shipping giant Cosco broke down a very old monopoly, which was the workers' union for the port which had kept prices high and throughput low for hundreds of years prior. For more previously unreported details on the port project and BRI activities in South and Eastern Europe. Have a listen!

The Backstory Behind Greece's Piraeus Port

  The Belt and Road Advisory created a 25-minute podcast from the 12-page research paper from The Brookings Institute. For those that prefer listening versus reading in both English or Mandarin Chinese, we bring this highly recommended report from the highly influential American Think Tank - The Brookings Institute direct to your earphones. The topics covered in the report are important, “Should the Chinese elite and mass opinion concludes that the United States is intent on denying China its rightful place in global affairs, no one should expect Beijing to be compliant or submissive. At the same time, none of China’s neighbors, even those uneasy about the growth of Chinese power, want to be caught in a struggle between the U.S. and China.”

布鲁金斯学会：衡量中美脱离接触的风险

The Belt and Road Advisory created a 25 minute podcast from the 12-page research paper from The Brookings Institute. For those that prefer listening versus reading in both English or Mandarin Chinese we bring this highly recommended report from the highly influential American Think Tank - The Brookings Institute direct to your earphones. The topics covered in the report are important, “Should the Chinese elite and mass opinion concludes that the United States is intent on denying China its rightful place in global affairs, no one should expect Beijing to be compliant or submissive. At the same time, none of China’s neighbors, even those uneasy about the growth of Chinese power, want to be caught in a struggle between the U.S. and China.”

地方双赢：中亚"一带一路"倡议的联动效应研究

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