ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and China have agreed to temporarily reopen the border crossing between the two states to facilitate local traders, Pakistan’s foreign ministry spokesperson said on Thursday. 

The Khunjerab Pass, which is the highest paved international border crossing in the world, connects the northern border of Pakistan with southwestern China. 

While the pass usually remains open from May to November for trade and travel activities between the two countries, in November 2019, China ordered its closure to contain the coronavirus from spreading. As the transmission of the disease declined, the border was reopened last year.

The two countries, after a few years of talks, signed a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in 2009. A second phase of the deal was signed in 2019 and implemented on January 1, 2022, enabling Pakistan to export over one thousand products to China on zero duty. 

China is Pakistan’s second-largest export destination, with an 11 percent share of Pakistan’s total exports in 2021, worth US$28.9 billion, according to the South China Morning Post. 

Pakistan's foreign ministry spokesperson said the border pass will reopen for trade in two phases.

“In the first phase, the Khunjerab Pass will open today for two days (January 19, 20) and again from [the end of] January 2023 to early February 2023, after the Chinese spring festival,” Foreign Office Spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said during the weekly press briefing.

She added that Pakistan had forwarded a special request to China to reopen the border so that local traders could be facilitated. “We appreciate the special efforts on both sides to ensure smooth border operations despite inclement weather conditions,” Baloch said.