Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan Sun Weidong said Iran’s inclusion in the $46 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) would be beneficial for both Tehran and Islamabad.
In an interview with the Iranian news agency the other day, the Chinese ambassador said his country was looking forward to enhancing its cooperation with Iran through the CPEC. Iran had shown willingness to become a part of the CPEC in a meeting between President Hassan Rouhani and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in New York on the sidelines of the latest session of the United Nations General Assembly.
Rouhani said Iran considered Pakistan’s economic development as its own development. “We think Iran can also be a very important country along the Belt and the Road initiative, so we really look forward to enhancing our cooperation with Iran,” Sun Weidong said.
He said Beijing respected the desire of the Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to join the CPEC. He said there were many projects under the CPEC framework which were being implemented or were under construction in Pakistan. “There are 16 major projects that are under construction and the Chinese side has already invested more than $13 billion,” he added.
Weidong said CPEC had created tens of thousands of job opportunities in Pakistan. The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor is a mega project between the two countries under which China will invest $46 billion in Pakistan.
The economic corridor is about 3,000 kilometers consisting of highways, railways and pipelines that will connect corridor is about 3,000 kilometers consisting of highways, railways and pipelines that will connect China’s Xinjiang province to Pakistan’s Gwadar port.
