Investment & socio-economic state: speakers highlight criticality of Gwadar port

The Gwadar Port was the centre of a long debate during a seminar on "Gwadar: a deep-sea port exploring global opportunities", with a string of speeches stressing the need for realising the importance of building it for a better investment and socio-economic state.
Tuesday's seminar also pulled in speech-makers such as Lahore Chamber Vice President Nasir Saeed, China Overseas Ports Holding Company Chairman Zhang Baozhong, Chinese Consul General in Lahore Yu Boren, Saiyed Shahzad Sultan and Convenor of the Standing Committee Muhammad Anwar. Those also among their audience were former Lahore Chamber presidents Mian Muhammad Ashraf, Mian Anjum Nisar, Shahid Hassan Sheikh and Sohail Lashari.
In his address, Chairman Baozhong said, "The Gwadar Port is the product of a long-term China-Pakistan cooperation. The Gwadar Terminal has done a lot of effective work. Last year in May, we commenced the commercial containerised service from Gwadar. This service is continuously catering the seafood shipments for Indonesia, China and other Far Eastern countries."
"The inception of the Gwadar Deep-Sea Port is to further enable the economic development of Pakistan over the next decades and beyond. Gwadar has an enormous potential from all angles and dimensions for any kind of business activity, whether known or emerging with ever developing technologies. The Pakistani government and her army deserve appreciation for the fast pace in the completion of the highways of supporting the China-Pakistan Economic Project that will certainly span the breadth and width of Pakistan and in providing a safe and secure pathway for the economic development in the region."
Consul General Boren said, "The global trade is facing challenges and we have already seen the acquisitions and mergers of big players. The China-Pak Economic Corridor is an overall cooperation platform with a focus on the long-term development of bilateral cooperation in various fields. Right now, we are focused on the four major areas of the Gwadar Port, energy, transport infrastructure and industrial parks. In addition, under the framework of the Corridor, the cooperation on agriculture, science and technology, finance, education, cultural and media exchanges are underway."
While Vice President Saeed said, "Gwadar has huge potential to be developed as a gateway to the economy of Pakistan. Its presence at the convergence of three most commercially important regions of the world, for instance, the oil-rich Middle East, Central Asia bestowed with natural resources and South Asia has potential for growth, makes it one of the well placed port for the development of global trade." Convenor Anwar said the port was "one of the precious treasures bestowed to Pakistan" and it would turn Pakistan into "a hub of trade and economic activities in days to come".