Chinese ship opens new international trade route via Pakistani port
Pakistani army has created a special force to guard port and new trade routes
Pakistan’s top civil and military leaders travelled to the country’s southwest on Sunday to open a new international trade route by seeing off a Chinese ship that’s exporting goods to the Middle East and Africa from the newly built Gwadar port.
The first convoy of Chinese trucks carrying goods for sale abroad arrived in Pakistan amid tight security using a road linking Gwadar to China’s northwestern Xinjiang region, the government said in a statement.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said Pakistan would provide the best possible security to foreign investors to enable them to use the Chinese-funded port for international trade.
Amid security concerns for foreign workers, the Pakistani army has created a special force to guard the new trade routes and the port, which is located in insurgency-wracked Baluchistan province where an overnight blast at a shrine killed nearly 50 people.