Pak, China sign pacts over trade corridor through PoK

All-weather allies China and Pakistan on Wednesday signed agreements for building an airport at the strategic Gwadar port and extend Karakoram highway as part of efforts to realise their ‘game changing’ Economic Corridor project through PoK brushing aside Indian concerns.

China and Pakistan signed agreements after talks between Pakistan President Mamnoon Hussain and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping at the ornate Great Hall of the People.

Finalising plans to build rail, road and gas pipelines in the proposed Sino-Pakistan Economic Corridor through Pakistan- occupied Kashmir (PoK), the two countries signed agreements which included second phase of the extension of Karakoram Highway up to Islamabad and building of an international airport at Gwadar connecting the corridor between them. The corridor will link China’s volatile Muslim Uygur- majority Xinjiang province, which has witnessed a spate of terror attacks in recent times, with Pakistan’s Gwadar port to provide road access to the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean.