by Deng Kaiyin, Li Hao and Liu Tian
ISLAMABAD, Apr 20 (NNN-XINHUA) – For hundreds of years, the lofty Karakoram mountain range has never been the hurdle between the two ancient civilisations of China and Pakistan, but rather a witness to the ever-deepening friendship between the two peoples.
The rolling mountain observed a new height of friendly exchanges between the two countries in 2015, when the plane taking Chinese President Xi Jinping for a two-day state visit to Pakistan, flew over it.
During the visit, the two sides forged their all-weather strategic cooperative partnership, and mapped out strategic arrangements and a long-term plan for future bilateral development.
Six years on, benefits of the fruitful visit thrive across the South Asian country. A closer China-Pakistan community with a shared future is becoming a reality and setting a fine example for the rest of the world.
Back to 2015, Pakistan was deeply-mired in terrorism, and few countries in the world were willing to invest in the country, said, Mushahid Hussain Syed, chairman of Pakistani Senate’s standing committee on foreign affairs. The South Asian country was looking forward to an economic take-off to stabilise its society.
“China and Pakistan need to align development strategies more closely, to realise the dreams of our peoples,” Xi said, in a signed article published ahead of his Pakistan visit.
During the visit, the two sides signed more than 50 cooperation deals, and agreed to centre the development of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) with four key areas, namely the Gwadar Port, transport infrastructure, energy and industrial cooperation.
The CPEC blueprint is now a reality. Three major coal-fired power plants, with world’s top environment friendly technologies, generated more than 71.5 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity, ending Pakistan’s history of power outages, on an average of 12 hours per day.
In 2020, major CPEC energy projects generated about one-third of the total electricity, injecting into the national grid, said Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan, Nong Rong. With planned hydropower plants, including Karot and Suki Kinari under construction, Pakistan’s energy structure will be further improved in the near future.
CPEC has also enhanced connectivity. The Karakoram Highway Phase Two project, along with the Sukkur-Multan Motorway, CPEC’s largest transport infrastructure project, has connected the heartland of the country with its remote northern region and financial centre in the south. The eco-friendly Orange Line metro train in Pakistan’s cultural centre, Lahore, has served over 10 million passengers within six months.
Facing the Arabian Sea and the Middle East, the re-functioned Gwadar Port welcomed Afghan transit cargo, facilitating goods movement in the region and “helping make Pakistan the hub of transit trade in the region,” said Pakistani President, Arif Alvi. With a new international airport and a coastal expressway linking the airport to a newly-built free trade zone, Gwadar is sailing towards the dream of becoming a “Dubai” in Pakistan.
According to data, by the Chinese Embassy in Pakistan, in Mar, the CPEC helped Pakistan rake in 25.4 billion U.S. dollars in foreign direct investment (FDI) since inauguration, offering more than 75,000 jobs to local people. In fact, China has been Pakistan’s largest source of FDI for the past seven years, and its largest trading partner over the last six years.
Xi’s visit was very important, and what the two countries planned at that time “is in the pipeline, is happening, is going on,” Alvi told Xinhua in a recent interview.
