On summit-eve, Pak, Chinese PMs oversee more CPEC deals

China and Pakistan on Saturday signed a number of infrastructure agreements to boost cooperation on the $46 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, including for the development of the strategic Gwadar port, ahead of the two-day Belt and Road summit here. The pacts were signed in the presence of Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang ahead of the much-publicised Belt and Road (B&R) Forum beginning on Sunday.

The pacts deal with increasing bilateral cooperation within the framework of China's ambitious Silk Road project, upgrading the main railway track between Karachi and Peshawar - referred to as ML-1 or Main Line-1, and an MoU for the establishment of a dry port in Havelian, Radio Pakistan reported.

Three agreements were signed pertaining to economic and technical cooperation worth 3.4 billion yuan (about $490 million) for the strategic Gwadar port in southern Pakistan and East Bay expressway, a 19 kilometre controlled access road under construction in Gwadar.