A pact has been signed for connecting Gwadar with China via rail, road and air routes, Pakistan's Foreign Secretary Jalil Abbas said on Wednesday. In a brief chat with media persons at the Aiwan-i-Sadr on Wednesday, he said that China will invest in Pakistan in this project. He said that China would also give access to Beidou satellite system before 2015. He said that China would cooperate in multiple sectors.
China had taken over operations at the port earlier this year, a move that had upset India. According to the sources, the port, which is close to the Strait of Hormuz - a key shipping lane that serves as a gateway for a third of the world's traded oil - is seen to be opening up an energy and trade corridor from the Gulf, across Pakistan to western China, and could also be used by the Chinese Navy.
The sources said that a worried India had, as a counter to China's presence in the region, announced that it will upgrade Iran's crucial Chahbahar port that provides a transit route to land-locked Afghanistan. The port, which is surrounded by a free trade zone, is crucial particularly since Pakistan does not allow transit facility from India to Afghanistan, the sources said.
The sources said that China was likely to invest $1.13 billion to support the development of industries related to the country's Beidou satellite navigation system before 2015. They said that industries related to the Beidou system were entering a development stage. According to official figures, the Chinese government has already invested around 3.5 billion yuan to boost industries related to the Beidou system.