The report, Everything Everywhere all at Once, identifies the issues and challenges created by the initiative and makes a series of policy recommendations designed to help to mitigate and overcome them.

The report was co-authored by Dr Alexander Kupatadze, from the King’s Russia Institute, and Lakshmi Kumar, policy director at Global Financial Integrity, USA. It builds on the conclusions of a workshop, funded by the European Anti-Fraud Office, held at King’s College London in March.

Dr Kupatadze said: “The paper looks at the impact of China’s Belt and Road Initiative on illicit trade. It has been prepared in the framework of the European Anti-Fraud Office’s Hercule III programme.

“The anti-fraud office funded a two-day-long workshop at King’s which brought together the experts of illicit trade and representatives of consumer industries and international organisations. This paper is one of the outcomes of the discussions that took place at the workshop as well as the research of myself and Lakshmi on the initiative and its implications for illicit trade.”