An azimuth is a bearing - the angle between true north and the direction you are pointed. The Silk Road wasn't a road and wasn't about silk - it was the world's first network for moving value and trust across dozens of borders with no single owner. Central Asia wasn't even a stop on it; Samarkand and Bukhara were the switchboard. And the technology that moved the money was Islamic finance; a sakk let a merchant put gold down in Baghdad and draw its value in Cairo, the same word that gives us both sukuk and cheque. Then the world went to sea and the centre of gravity moved off this map for five centuries. The day's argument: it's moving back - the cargo is now data and capital, the road is digital rails, and the charter was signed eight weeks ago. That's the global movement we're starting. In this room. Today.
