The Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-century Maritime Silk Road, also known as The Belt and Road (abbreviated B&R), One Belt, One Road (abbreviated OBOR) or the Belt and Road Initiative is a development strategy and framework, proposed by Chinese paramount leader Xi Jinping that focuses on connectivity and cooperation among countries primarily between the People's Republic of China and the rest of Eurasia, which consists of two main components, the land-based "Silk Road Economic Belt" (SREB) and oceangoing "Maritime Silk Road" (MSR). The strategy underlines China's push to take a bigger role in global affairs, and its need for priority capacity cooperation in areas such as steel manufacturing.

It was unveiled in September and October 2013 in announcements revealing the SREB and MSR, respectively. It was also promoted by Premier Li Keqiang during the State visit in Asia and Europe.

Infrastructure networks

The coverage area of the initiative is primarily Asia and Europe, encompassing around 60 countries. Oceania and East Africa are also included. Anticipated cumulative investment over an indefinite timescale is variously put at US$4 trillion or US$8 trillion. One Belt, One Road has been contrasted with the two US-centric trading arrangements, the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership.

Silk Road Economic Belt
When Chinese leader Xi Jinping visited Central Asia and Southeast Asia in September and October 2013, he raised the initiative of jointly building the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road. Essentially, the 'belt' includes countries situated on the original Silk Road through Central Asia, West Asia, the Middle East, and Europe. The initiative calls for the integration of the region into a cohesive economic area through building infrastructure, increasing cultural exchanges, and broadening trade. Apart from this zone, which is largely analogous to the historical Silk Road, another area that is said to be included in the extension of this 'belt' is South Asia and Southeast Asia. Many of the countries that are part of this belt are also members of the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). North, central and south belts are proposed. North belt goes through Central Asia, Russia to Europe. Central belt goes through Central Asia, West Asia to the Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean. South belt starts from China to Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Indian Ocean. Central belt is spoken down due to complex religion problems and separation movement along the belt.

Maritime Silk Road
The Maritime Silk Road, also known as the "21st Century Maritime Silk Road" (21世纪海上丝绸之路) is a complementary initiative aimed at investing and fostering collaboration in Southeast Asia, Oceania, and North Africa, through several contiguous bodies of water – the South China Sea, the South Pacific Ocean, and the wider Indian Ocean area.
The Maritime Silk Road initiative was first proposed by Xi Jinping during a speech to the Indonesian Parliament in October 2013. Like its sister initiative the Silk Road Economic Belt, most countries in this area have joined the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.

East Africa
This region of Africa (In particular Zanzibar) will form part of the MSR after improvement of local ports and construction of a modern standard-gauge rail link between Nairobi and Kampala.

University Alliance of the Silk Road
Main article: University Alliance of the Silk Road
A university alliance centered at Xi'an Jiaotong University aims to support the One Belt, Rone Road initiative with research and engineering, and to foster understanding and academic exchange. The network extends beyond the economic zone, and includes law school alliance to "serve the Belt and Road development with legal spirit and legal culture." 

Closely related networks
The China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar (BCIM) Economic Corridor are officially classified as "closely related to the Belt and Road Initiative".[13] In coverage by the media, this distinction is disregarded and the networks are counted as components of the initiative. The CPEC in particular is often regarded as the link between China's maritime and overland silk road, with the port of Gwadar forming the crux of the CPEC project.

Financial institutions
AIIB
The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, first proposed by China in October 2013, is a development bank dedicated to lending for projects regarding infrastructure. As of 2015, China announced that over one trillion yuan ($160 billion US) of infrastructure projects were in planning or construction.

On 29 June 2015, the Articles of Agreement of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), the legal framework was signed in Beijing. The proposed multilateral bank has an authorized capital of $100 billion, 75% of which will come from Asian and Oceanian countries. China will be the single largest stakeholder, holding 26% of voting rights. The bank plans to start operation by year end.

Silk Road Fund
For the main article, see Silk Road Fund.
In November 2014, Xi Jinping announced plans to create a 40 billion USD development fund, which will be distinguished from the banks created for the initiative. As a fund its role will be to invest in businesses rather than lend money for projects. The Karot Hydropower Station in Pakistan is the first investment project of the Silk Road Fund, and is not part of the much larger CPEC investment.

Oversight
The Leading Group for Advancing the Development of One Belt One Road was formed sometime in late 2014, and its leadership line-up publicized on February 1, 2015. This steering committee reports directly into the State Council of the People's Republic of China and is composed of several political heavyweights, evidence of the importance of the program to the government. Vice-Premier Zhang Gaoli, who is also a member of the 7-man Politburo Standing Committee, was named leader of the group, with Wang Huning, Wang Yang, Yang Jing, and Yang Jiechi being named deputy leaders.

In March 2014, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang called for accelerating the "One Belt One Road" initiative along with the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar Economic Corridor and the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor in his government work report presented to the annual meeting of the country's legislature.

Role of Hong Kong
On the eve of his 2016 policy address, Hong Kong chief executive CY Leung's announced his intention of setting up a Maritime Authority aimed at strengthening Hong Kong’s maritime logistics in line with Beijing's economic policy. Leung mentioned the “one belt, one road” no fewer than 48 times during the policy address, but the amount of small detail presented in addition to the macro-economic measures related to "one belt, one road" which commentators considered to be irrelevant to Hong Kong people because it skirted over matters of importance to them. Leung's apparent overemphasis was seen as a sycophantic promotion of Xi Jinping's concept, and was widely lampooned. The anchor of TVMost, Fong Dong Sing (方東昇), satirised it using a Chinese homonym – “one covered, one exposed” (一戴一露) instead of “one belt, one road” (一带一路) – in a photograph of him half-wearing a brassiere in which one of his nipples was exposed. An op-ed in Wen Wei Po said CY Leung was “horrendously scandalised” by the picture, which was considered obscene.