ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has instructed authorities to route a proportion of Pakistan’s imports through the Gwadar port in the southwestern Balochistan province to “fully operationalize” it, Sharif’s office said on Tuesday.
The prime minister gave the directives while presiding over a high-level meeting on projects under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a major segment of Beijing’s Belt and Road infrastructure initiative.
The Gwadar port lies at the heart of CPEC, under which Beijing has pledged $65 billion for a network of roads, railways, pipelines, and ports in Pakistan that will connect China to the Arabian Sea and help Islamabad expand and modernize its economy.
PM Sharif said Pakistan-China partnership was currently on the “highest ever level” and urged authorities to strive for the positive outcomes of this partnership, according to his office.
“The Prime Minister directed to import a certain proportion of the domestic imports, especially the goods imported by the government, from Gwadar port,” Sharif’s office said in a statement.
China is a major ally and investor in Pakistan and has often financially assisted Islamabad, including in July last year when Beijing granted Pakistan a two-year rollover on a $2.4 billion loan, providing much-needed breathing space to the cash-strapped South Asian nation to tackle an economic crisis.
The prime minister instructed all the ministries to enhance collaboration for swift execution of CPEC’s second phase and warned against any laxity, according to the statement.
He also called for the provision of “foolproof security” to the Chinese nationals working in Pakistan, who have often been targeted by religiously motivated and separatist militants in Pakistan.
