Chinese Ship Opens New Trade Route Via Pakistani Port
Pakistan's top civilian and military leaders traveled to the country's southwest on Sunday to open a new international trade route by seeing off a Chinese ship that's exporting goods to the Middle East and Africa from the newly built Gwadar port.
According to MANA cited by Bloomberg,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.
China is building a network of roads and power plants under a project known as China-Pakistan Economic Corridor that is expected to absorb $46 billion in Chinese investment in the coming decades.
China and Pakistan have long maintained close political and military relations, based partly on mutual antipathy toward neighbor India. Gwadar port is located on the Arabian Sea and it occupies a strategic location between South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. The port is also located at the mouth of the Persian Gulf, just outside the Straits of Hormuz.