ISLAMABAD: Top Pakistani civil and military leaders inaugurated a new international trade route that exports goods to the Middle East and Africa from the newly built Gwadar port.
The first convoy of Chinese cargo trucks arrived in Pakistan amid tight security using a road linking Gwadar to China’s north-western Xinjiang region, the government said in a statement.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said that Pakistan will provide best possible security to foreign investors to enable them to use the Chinese-funded port for international trade.
Amid security concerns for foreign workers, the Pakistani army has created a special force to guard the new trade routes and the port – which is located in Balochistan where a blast at killed at least 45 people the day before.
The attack was claimed by the Islamic State militants – to which the government officialsclaim was aimed at harming the Chinese-funded projects.
China is building a network of roads and power plants under a project known as China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) that is expected to absorb $46 billion in Chinese investment in the coming decades.
