Islamabad--Chinese President Xi Jinping said Tuesday a $46 billion economic corridor offered Pakistan a "historic development opportunity", but security fears linger over the project which involves major construction in some highly unstable areas.
Pakistani and Chinese officials on Monday signed a series of more than 50 accords to inaugurate the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, which will create a network of roads, railways and pipelines linking China's restive west to the Arabian Sea through Pakistan.
The project is part of Beijing's "Belt and Road" plan to expand its trade and transport footprint across Central and South Asia. It will give China easier access to Middle Eastern oil via the deepwater port of Gwadar in southwest Pakistan.
The Chinese aid also aims to boost Pakistan's long-underperforming economy, which the IMF projects will grow 4.3 percent this year, and tackle its long-running energy crisis.
Beijing and Islamabad have long enjoyed close ties and Xi's speech on Tuesday, the first by a Chinese president to a joint session of parliament, was full of the flowery rhetoric that typifies their official exchanges.
"Today Pakistan has a historic development opportunity. Prime Minister Sharif has crafted the vision of the Asian tiger dream. It outlines a great blueprint for Pakistan," he told lawmakers.
AFP
