The contract was with construction and engineering company China Gezhouba Group International and China Railway Construction Corp. to build a 550-km railway in northern Mongolia. It will connect the Ovoot coking coal mine that Aspire is developing to Mongolia's Northern Rail Corridor going up to the Russian border.

"It is the cheapest and most efficient way to transport the coal to China and Russia," Paull said. "Transport time and cost will be slashed dramatically. The distance to Russia will be 40 percent shorter."

It will also be an economic route to the vast Chinese market for Russian exporters.

Aspire chose the Chinese companies because of their capability and funding prospects for connectivity projects under the Belt and Road Initiative. "It is an international mix," he said.

In its sixth year, the Belt and Road Initiative is showing several new trends. The first is the internationalization of the projects under its framework. Paull and his project represent the kind of international cooperation in trade and infrastructure development for mutual benefit the Belt and Road Initiative envisions to connect places along and beyond the ancient Silk Road routes.

"The projects are moving away from bilateral agreements between two countries to package deals," Rajit Nanda, Chief Investment Officer at Acwa Power, a Saudi Arabia-headquartered company engaged in power generation, desalinated water production and renewable energy plants, said.

Acwa's top officials were present at the Belt and Road CEO Conference, one of the events at the Second BRF on April 25, to sign three agreements. The first was with China Gezhouba to build a 1,200-MW coal-fired power plant in north Viet Nam that would require about $2.5 billion. The second was with Power China and SEPCO Electric Power Construction Corp., also from China, to construct a $900-million power and desalination plant in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

"These are megaprojects," Acwa CEO Suntharesan Padmanathan said. "There's no way one country can do them on its own. Through collaboration we have greater strength."

Acwa's footprints in Africa are coinciding with the Belt and Road's. "We are now focusing on Africa and that's why China has become a very important partner for us," Nanda said. "It is a win-win partnership."