Coming Soon: World’s Longest Suspension Bridge
With opening set for March 2022, the 1915 Çanakkale Bridge spanning Turkey’s Dardanelles Strait will surpass the Akashi Kaikyō Bridge in Japan to become the longest suspension bridge in the world. Connecting European Turkey to Asian Turkey, the bridge will feature a main span that exceeds 1.2 miles (2 km.) and will reduce a 30-minute ferry ride to a spin taking less than five minutes. Launched in 2017, the project is being led by the Danish engineering firm COWI. The span’s impending completion is expected to bolster transportation links to neighboring European countries and to further facilitate tourism.
Source: Getty Images
“What we see is a multi-speed recovery [from COVID-19], increasingly powered by two engines — the U.S. and China. Prospects are diverging dangerously not only within nations but also across countries and regions.”
— Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director, International Monetary Fund
Free Trade and Agriculture in Africa
The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement, which entered into force January 1, is expected to boost intra-continental agriculture trade, according to a report issued April 12 by the Oxford Business Group. The trade pact is to result in the elimination of tariffs for 90% of products originating from signature countries by 2021 and will increase further to 97% by 2030. “While the tariff reductions are likely to have a positive impact on agricultural trade,” the reports states, “non-tariff measures — in addition to relatively high administrative and logistical costs — continue to pose serious obstacles to trade on the continent.”
Source: Oxford Business Group
Hyundai Turns to China for Fuel Cell Facility
Hyundai Motor Group on March 2 announced groundbreaking for HTWO Guangzhou, the Group’s first fuel cell system facility outside of Korea. The investment, Hyundai said in a statement, “advances the Group’s global hydrogen leadership and supports its push into China’s rapidly developing hydrogen industry.” Upon expected completion in the second half of 2022, the facility is to initially produce 6,500 fuel cell systems per year. To be built on a 2.2-million-sq.-ft. (207,000-sq.-m.) site in the Guangzhou Development District, the operation also is to include an innovation center.
Source: Hyundai
“Amidst a global collapse in FDI, China’s outbound investment fell 45% to $29 billion in 2020, contributing to the downward trend seen since 2017.”
— Atlantic Council, April 17
Busiest Airports
Passenger traffic at the World’s 10 busiest airports decreased by 46% during 2020. China now hosts seven of the Top 10, according to Airports Council International.
