Goodmorning and welcome to Easternational

In a person's life, there are few opportunities to live epochal events that will have a long-lasting impact. The push given by China to the progressive and inevitable economic integration between Europe and Asia is one of these. And it is an event, or rather a set of events, that will leave the mark in our way of living, producing and trading.

Easternational likes to describe itself as a "think tank" but has the ambition to go further, wants to be a tool for the economic operators to understand both the macro and micro implications of both the immediate and the medium-long term.

It is not a coincidence that although the Belt and Road project, which Easternational (among other things) wants to deal with, has been launched since 2013, I’m certain that the moment to dedicate time and resources has definitely strengthened on November 9, 2016, after the results of the US election.

Not a lot of people can gather the great breakthrough that this election represents for the most part of the world. The signal is clear: the doors to the American market remain open, but under certain conditions and further openings seem uncertain. Military alliances resist, but are partially questioned. Multilateralism in business and investment relations, which has already been under heavy pressure in recent years, will get another hit. Facing these changes, whose durability is unpredictable, it is no longer possible for Italy and Europe to underestimate what is happening in the East. An "East" that Easternational considers very broad: China, of course (mainly central and western part), but also the Central Asian Republics, Russia and the Balkans (not by chance the regions closest to us involved in the Belt and Road Initiative). It's important to try to act as the main character.

Although supported primarily by companies and entrepreneurs, Easternational has no intention to substitute anyone who does professional advice in these areas neither wants to make brokering. Instead, it wants to connect experts and decision-makers from all areas of interest, assess, analyze and then inform those who will have to act locally on entry and participation opportunities in what is happening in these countries. Here it is the warmest welcome to Easternational, hoping that you will join us as a member for this initiative.

Marco Marazzi