China’s “Belt and Road Initiative” (BRI)includes major infrastructure investment projects – roads,ports, railways – that aim to improve connectivity along anumber of transport corridors spanning 71 countries. In thispaper we find that notwithstanding the large scale of theinitiative, relatively little systematic data exists on thepractices being followed by the different, primarilyChinese, entities that finance BRI-related contracts and howfirms are being selected to execute projects. The limitedavailable data however indicate that Chinese companiesaccount for the majority of BRI-procurement, even in lightof their high share of total infrastructure projects indeveloping countries. We discuss the limited publiclyavailable evidence on the procurement of BRI projects andspecific dimensions of the institutional features pertainingto public procurement regimes of BRI countries, includingChina, both as embedded in domestic regulations and ininternational agreements that countries may be part of.Finally, we discuss the efforts that BRI countries can take-individually or as part of an international agreement- toimprove procurement practices for BRI projects.
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