China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) could create upward of 700,000 direct jobs over the next 15 years. Chinese media reported that billions of dollars’ worth of Chinese investment are aimed at constructing energy projects, building roads and rail networks, and laying modern communication lines along with CPEC route. The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, or CPEC, investment has been hailed as a “game-changer” for Pakistan, roughly equalling all of the foreign direct investment into the country since 1970. The ambitious effort will effectively re-create the ancient Silk Road that for centuries linked Asia to the rest of the world. A 46 billion dollar effort to develop trade routes that Islamabad hopes could revive its economy and boost employment and Beijing hopes will give it a new trade route to the Middle East, Africa and Europe. The money will build infrastructure aimed at allowing Chinese trade convoys to travel 3,000 kilometers along the Karakoram Highway, snaking past snow-capped ranges hosting some of the highest mountains on Earth, down to central Pakistan and finally to the deep-water Gwadar port on the Arabian Sea, where ships then take the freight to markets in Africa, the Middle East and Europe.
