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CPEC is Transforming The Least Developed Parts of Pakistan
In a New York Times Op Ed titled "How Not to Engage With Pakistan", ex US Ambassador to Pakistan Richard G. Olson says "Its (CPEC's) magnitude and its transformation of parts of Pakistan dwarf anything the United States has ever undertaken". Olson goes on to warn the Trump Administration that "Without Pakistani cooperation, our (US) army in Afghanistan risks becoming a beached whale".
Among the parts of Pakistan being transformed by China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) are some of the least developed regions in Balochistan and Sindh, specifically Gwadar and Thar Desert. Here is more on these regions:
Gwadar Port City:
Gwadar is booming. It's being called the next Shenzhen by some and the next Hong Kong by others as an emerging new port city in the region to rival Dubai. Land prices in Gwadar are skyrocketing, according to media reports. Gwadar Airport air traffic growth of 73% was the fastest of all airports in Pakistan where overall air traffic grew by 23% last year, according to Anna Aero publication. A new international airport is now being built in Gwadar to handle soaring passenger and cargo traffic.
In addition to building a major seaport that will eventually handle 300-400 million tons of cargo in a year, China has built a school, sent doctors and pledged about $500 million in grants for an airport, hospital, college and badly-needed water supply infrastructure for Gwadar, according to Reuters.
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| 400 Km Long Kachhi Canal From Punjab to Balochistan |
The Chinese grants include $230 million for a new international airport in Gwadar, one of the largest such disbursements China has made abroad, according to researchers and Pakistani officials.
New development work in Gwadar is expected to create as many as 20,000 jobs for the local population.
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Steel Bridges on Multan-Qila Saifullah Section of Highway N-70 Conn... |
Thar Desert:
Thar, one of the least developed regions of Pakistan, is seeing unprecedented development activity in energy and infrastructure projects. New roads, airports and buildings are being built along with coal mines and power plants as part of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). There are construction workers and machinery visible everywhere in the desert. Among the key beneficiaries of this boom are Thari Hindu women who are being employed by Sindh Engro Coal Mining Company (SECMC) as part of the plan to employ locals. Highlighted in recent news reports are two Hindu women in particular: Kiran Sadhwani, an engineer and Gulaban, a truck driver.
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Kiran Sadhwani, a Thari Hindu Woman Engineer. Source: Express Tribune |
Thar Population:
The region has a population of 1.6 million. Most of the residents are cattle herders. Majority of them are Hindus. The area is home to 7 million cows, goats, sheep and camel. It provides more than half of the milk, meat and leather requirement of the province. Many residents live in poverty. They are vulnerable to recurring droughts. About a quarter of them live where the coal mines are being developed, according to a report in The Wire.
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Some of them are now being employed in development projects. A recent report talked of an underground coal gasification pilot project near the town of Islamkot where "workers sourced from local communities rested their heads after long-hour shifts".
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In the first phase, Sindh Engro Coal Mining Company (SECMC) is relocating 5 villages that are located in block II. SECMC is paying villagers for their homes and agricultural land.
SECMC’s chief executive officer, Shamsuddin Ahmed Shaikh, says his company "will construct model towns with all basic facilities including schools, healthcare, drinking water and filter plants and also allocate land for livestock grazing,” according to thethirdpole.net He says that the company is paying villagers above market prices for their land – Rs. 185,000 ($ 1,900) per acre.
Summary:
Ex US Ambassador Richard Olson is absolutely right in his assessment that "(CPEC's) magnitude and its transformation of parts of Pakistan dwarf anything the United States has ever undertaken". Olson goes on to warn the Trump Administration that "Without Pakistani cooperation, our (US) army in Afghanistan risks becoming a beached whale". The "magnitude" of CPEC and its "transformation" that Olson refers to is clearly visible in some of the least developed regions of Pakistan in Balochistan and Sindh provinces. Gwadar port city and Thar desert are humming with unprecedented development activity fueled by billions of dollars of funds allocated by China and Pakistan.
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Comment by Riaz Haq on January 2, 2021 at 4:47pm
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#China vows $100 million grant for #Sindh #infrastructure. Two governments signed a letter of exchange for rehabilitation of specific sections of National Highway (N-5) project. Under the agreement, China will provide grant assistance of RMB 659.8 million https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/767335-china-vows-100mln-grant-for...
The signing ceremony was witnessed by Ambassador of China to Pakistan Nong Rong and Minister for Economic Affairs Khusro Bakhtyar. Rong said N5 is an important road that extends from the south part to the north and west border in Pakistan, and carries a large amount of traffic capacity. Four sections between Hala and Moro will be rehabilitated under the project.
“Unfortunately, this road was seriously damaged by the record flood in 2010,” the envoy said in a statement. At the request of the Pakistani government, the Chinese government helped repairing parts of N5 and N55 sections during 2011 and 2016. With the joint efforts by the Pakistani and Chinese workers, the rehabilitation work was completed at the end of 2016, and greatly improved the road conditions of the relevant sections.
Considering the importance of the N5 road, the Chinese government agrees to rehabilitate the remaining 66 kilometers of the N5 road with Chinese grant in accordance with the previous bilateral agreement.
The new project of rehabilitation of N5 road is the largest road project funded by Chinese grant in recent years in Pakistan. The implementation of this project will further increase the traffic capacity, while facilitating people’s travel along the route. Construction of the project will also create considerable employment, and promote related building materials and transportation sectors along the route. The Embassy will work closely with EAD and other relevant departments to ensure the project starts at the earliest.
During the meeting, bilateral economic relations, CPEC projects and other matters of mutual interest were discussed.
The minister for economic affairs lauded the grant assistance extended by China for various infrastructure and socioeconomic projects in Pakistan. The minister also appreciated the significant work of joint working groups on socioeconomic development and transport infrastructure under CPEC.
“Socioeconomic projects agreed therein are in line with the vision for socioeconomic uplift of the common people and enhanced economic activities in the country,” he said.
The second meeting of the joint working group on socioeconomic development under the CPEC framework was held in November via video link to discuss and review the projects under the $1 billion Chinese grant. The seventh meeting of the joint working group on transport infrastructure was held last year.
China is leading an estimated $60 billion worth of projects in Pakistan under its road and belt initiative that aims at infrastructure development and acceleration of the economic integration of countries along the route of the historic Silk Road.
CPEC is an integral part of the initiative and Pakistan is the foremost territory to make the initiative a success.
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Sindh mulls granite mining policy
“The approximate estimate of granite in Karoonjhar (Tharparkar)is 26 billion tons,” the meeting was informed. It was also told during the briefing that most of the granite in the region was underground.
https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/820180-sindh-mulls-granite-mining-...
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Global White Marble Market Size, Growth Factors 2021: Latest Study Focuses On Current And Future Innovations (Fujian Fengshan Stone, DongXing Group, Kangli Stone Group, Jinbo Construction Group)
https://ksusentinel.com/2021/05/08/global-white-marble-market-size-...
The company profile segment proposes a detailed analysis of the development policies of companies. A few of the key players mentioned include (Fujian Fengshan Stone, DongXing Group, Kangli Stone Group, Jinbo Construction Group, Xishi Group, Temmer Marble, Topalidis S. A, Alacakaya, Universal Marble & Granite, Vetter Stone, Pakistan Onyx Marble, Etgran, Mumal Marbles Pvt. Ltd, Jin Long Run Yu, SINAI, Dimpomar, Best Cheer Stone Group, Amso International, Levantina, Xiamen Wanlistone stock, Polycor inc, Xinpengfei Industry, Dermitzakis, Hongfa, Fujian Dongsheng Stone, Antolini, Indiana Limestone Company, Aurangzeb Marble Industry, INDIAN NATURAL STONES, Guanghui). From the industrial point of view, the market strategies and government policies penciled down in the report give the third party or the readers a better understanding of the market position on the global platform. Meanwhile, the regions (U.S., Germany, U.K., Italy, China, Japan, Brazil) are found to help gain more details regarding market revenue, key players, industrial status, and share of the White Marble market. In addition to all this, the historical data and the future market scope penned down in the report provide valuable parameters to understand the market growth in the upcoming years.
White Marble Market Global Competitors: Fujian Fengshan Stone, DongXing Group, Kangli Stone Group, Jinbo Construction Group, Xishi Group, Temmer Marble, Topalidis S. A, Alacakaya, Universal Marble & Granite, Vetter Stone, Pakistan Onyx Marble, Etgran, Mumal Marbles Pvt. Ltd, Jin Long Run Yu, SINAI, Dimpomar, Best Cheer Stone Group, Amso International, Levantina, Xiamen Wanlistone stock, Polycor inc, Xinpengfei Industry, Dermitzakis, Hongfa, Fujian Dongsheng Stone, Antolini, Indiana Limestone Company, Aurangzeb Marble Industry, INDIAN NATURAL STONES, Guanghui
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PAKISTAN is estimated to have around 297bn tonnes of marble and granite reserves, mainly in the remote areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Fata, Balochistan and rural Sindh.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1621736
Onyx, a rare marble, is abundant in the Chagai district of Balochistan; its dark green variety is found in five countries only. Its reserves are estimated at 34m cubic metres.
Over 1,400 quarries and 3,000 processing units are operational in the country, employing about 30,000 workers.
Despite many constraints faced by the industry, the sharp increase in its exports during the last decade shows its high potential for earning foreign exchange
Pakistani dimension stones have immense decorative and functional value and exotic appearances.
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How China and Pakistan Negotiate
KATHARINE ADENEY, FILIPPO BONI
https://carnegieendowment.org/2021/05/24/how-china-and-pakistan-neg...
The development of Gwadar was as much of a priority for Pakistan as it was for China. Although China’s strategic calculations are often emphasized, the port of Gwadar was a Pakistani-initiated proposal in the early 2000s that was only later rebranded as a BRI project after 2013. All Pakistani governments over the past twenty years, both military- and civilian-led, have encouraged China’s involvement in Gwadar, while Beijing in turn sees the port as a strategic access point to the Indian Ocean.
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The CPEC’s chosen route was affected by partisan Pakistani politics. The decisionmaking behind the corridor’s geographic route was an early indication that Pakistan’s preferences have been key in shaping how the CPEC has unfolded on the ground. In particular, the choice to prioritize projects in Sindh and Punjab stemmed from then prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his party’s desire to obtain medium-term electoral gains, alongside China’s interests in developing projects in Pakistan’s more economically developed provinces.
Despite its initial suspicions of the CPEC, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has been as partisan in its use of the CPEC as its predecessor was. Since taking office in 2018, the PTI’s focus on socioeconomic projects has not deviated markedly from the Pakistani government’s previously formulated plans for the CPEC. But its choice of the Rashakai special economic zone (SEZ) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, over others rated more favorably in feasibility studies (and despite a strong Chinese preference for an alternative location), undermines the narrative that China is always the one distorting market forces with ill-suited BRI projects.
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Energy projects were initially prioritized by Pakistan’s choice. The majority of first-phase CPEC investments went to energy projects, most notably coal power plants. This preference for coal was part of Pakistan’s desire to diversify the composition of its energy markets. This goal was also in line with Sharif’s and his party’s preference for energy projects to end the country’s electricity shortages in order to secure a 2018 reelection bid.
The challenges facing SEZs. Despite China’s and Islamabad’s agreement to focus on and prioritize a few SEZs and China’s desire to relocate some industries to lower-cost production areas, the development of SEZs has been slow. This has been the result of a cumbersome bureaucratic structure and the politicization of these projects.
Rhetoric on the CPEC has often failed to match reality. The lofty language on the CPEC has generally failed to measure up to the realities on the ground when it comes to delivering for the people of Pakistan. Many projects aimed at winning Pakistani hearts and minds have been included in the CPEC, but these have often not materialized or have been delayed.
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#ImranKhan opens several #CPEC projects in #Balochistan:
Gwadar Fertiliser Plant
Gwadar Animal Vaccine Plant
Henan Agricultural Industrial Park
Hengmei Lubricants Plant
Gwadar Free Zone Phase Two
Gwadar Expo Centre
#Pakistan #China #development #Gwadar
https://www.dawn.com/news/1633343/pm-imran-launches-various-mega-pr...
Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday performed the groundbreaking of phase two of the Gwadar Free Zone (GFZ) and launched a number of other development and infrastructure projects including an expo centre, agriculture industrial park and three factories.
During a single-day visit to Gwadar, the premier also inaugurated phase one of the GFZ, reviewed the progress on various development projects, and witnessed the signing of a number of memorandums of understanding (MoUs).
He was given a detailed briefing on the progress of the south Balochistan development package in line with the government’s efforts of focusing on the province.
MoUs signed:
Implementation agreement of 1.2 million gallons per day desalination plant
Solar generators grant from China for south Balochistan
On the occasion, agreements were signed on solarisation and a desalination plant to solve the problems of Gwadar related to water and electricity.
In his address at the launching ceremony for the projects, the prime minister lamented that many areas in Pakistan including Balochistan had been left behind in development. He said development plans for Gwadar had been made for some time but the lack of any real implementation was due to common issues such as supply of water, electricity and gas, and connectivity with other areas.
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Water Released In Much Awaited Gomal Zam Dam Canal
https://www.urdupoint.com/en/pakistan/water-released-in-much-awaite...
Member Provincial Assembly, Faisal Amin lauded the efforts of Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA), Frontier Works Organization (FWO) and Chinese and Turkish engineers for releasing water in Gomal Zam Dam canal for the first time on Tuesday
TANK, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 9th Jun, 2020 ) :Member Provincial Assembly, Faisal Amin lauded the efforts of Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA), Frontier Works Organization (FWO) and Chinese and Turkish engineers for releasing water in Gomal Zam Dam canal for the first time on Tuesday.
The project, conceived in 1898, took over a century to be built but has changed the whole landscape. "Salute to Chinese, Turkish, FWO PAKISTAN, WAPDA and Pakistani staff who made it possible," he remarked.
He said dam would usher a new era of prosperity and green revolution in district Tank and DI Khan, adding that the dam is located in South Waziristan, Barrage at Girdawi that would help irrigate 200,000 acres of land in Tank and DIKHAN Districts, besides generating 17.
4 MW electricity.
He said most of the work was done before Pakistan Peoples Party government , which he said, stopped all payments.
Faisal Amin said, "thanks to aid from foreign countries and USAID Pakistan that the last remaining works were finished".
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Gomal Zam Dam Makes Two Lac (200,000) Acres Land Cultivable In KP Southern Districts in Pakistan
https://www.urdupoint.com/en/pakistan/gzd-makes-two-lac-acres-land-...
He said 200,000 acres barren land have been made cultivable in DI Khan and others southern districts of KP which means that Rs20 billion could be generated only from agriculture and 18megawatt affordable electricity in one year.
Focus are being made on food processing in agriculture sector to counter challenges related to food security, he said, adding the Government would help encourage food processing in merged areas to explore and take full advantage of its fruits and agriculture wealth.
The PM's special assistant said DI Khan, Mianwali and Bhakkar districts were going to become a hub of agriculture goods including fruits and vegetables to cater needs of every growing population including Islamabad and Rawalpindi.
Agriculture sector had achieved tremendous growth in the country where rice and maize production increased each by over 18pc, cotton by 50 and a record 100MT sugar were produced recently, adding that Rs 12,00 billion value addition were also achieved directly benefiting farmers and agriculture growers.
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#Pakistan #Motorways: 171-Mile 4-Lane M-14 Hakla-Dera Ismail Khan Motorway to open for traffic on Dec 13, 2021. It's part of #CPEC Western Route. https://pakobserver.net/m-14-motorway-to-open-for-traffic-on-dec-13/ via @pakobserver
The Hakla-Dera Ismail Khan Motorway (M-14), a key section of the western alignment of CPEC, will be open to traffic on December 13, said Sajid Hussain, project director of the M-14 motorway, Gwadar Pro reported on Thursday.
A source added that the member motorways of the NHA board had informed the authority’s chairman that the motorway was complete in all respects and could be inaugurated even in early December.
He added that work was underway on construction of service areas. However, the main work has been finished, he said.
The M-14 motorway is the starting section of the western corridor of CPEC. It connects South KP, South Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan provinces with the M-1 motorway, intersecting the eastern alignment of CPEC at Hakla near Islamabad.
The provincial governments of KP and Balochistan are presently purchasing land for the next section of M-14, from Dera Ismail Khan to Zhob district of Balochistan.
However, the federal government has already initiated work on modifying the existing two-lane highway from Dera Ismail Khan to Quetta, capital of Balochistan, into a four-lane expressway.
This will drastically reduce the distance and travel time between northern and southern parts of the country. The corridor will finally lead to Karachi and Gwadar, thus providing for the shortest route of CPEC.
The M-14 motorway has been the most awaited CPEC section in Islamabad, as the expat workers to benefit from this motorway form the largest community in the federal capital. It is very exhausting to travel to Islamabad from southern parts of the country on existing roads.
The M-14 motorway will make our travel and life easy, said Siftain Khan, who hails from Dera Ismail Khan and works as an overseas education consultant in Rawalpindi, the twin city of Islamabad.
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Wandering around the IK land
Development in Mianwali
https://tribune.com.pk/story/2333174/wandering-around-the-ik-land
Kamyab Pakistan is some indication that the bottom may begin to get serious attention
Kamyab Pakistan is some indication that the bottom may begin to get serious attention. His constituency has been looked after in the old ways that refuse to die. Federal PSDP is taking care of the Balkasar-Mianwali and Muzaffargarh-Mianwali roads, besides a CPEC connection. A Prime Minister’s Package for Mianwali is at work, with a hefty allocation of Rs54.03 billion. Had this amount been placed with the programme that fascinated him in 2002, Mianwali would have been transformed by now. But then politicians will be politicians! Roads fascinate them most as the highly visible transactional relationship with the voters. Little wonder, these claim the largest share of 34.1% in the total allocation. The road that enters Mianwali is now a modern, well-lit dual carriageway like any other in the country. Isa Khel boasts freshly laid-out farm to market roads. There is a difference with other such roads in Punjab. More than linking the farms to the market, they are linking villages with each other. Another difference is the second place given to health with an allocation of 29.1% of the total. Work on a large hospital has begun, though many villages are without a health unit. In case there is one, it does not have the necessary staff and medicines.
Education is a laggard, as in other parts of the country. Schools without teachers, teachers, and students without proper building and facilities tell a familiar story. The problem faced by girls completing primary education — the absence of middle and high schools — in reasonably close vicinity is more acute in the IK land. Namal University is a great institution; it will become greater if its catchment area turns out quality students. Not by the cadet college being built, though. Said the Quaid-i-Azam in 1927: “I know the conservative British mind, and I do not blame them if they cannot get rid of it from their heads, that the only method in this world by which you can get suitable boys for a military career is the public school system... there is no public school system [in] any other country that I know of.”
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79pc motorways and 68pc highways completed under CPEC
https://pakobserver.net/79pc-motorways-and-68pc-highways-completed-...As many as 79% work on motorways and 68% on highways have been completed on eastern and western routes of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), according to Gwadar Pro.Both the Western and Eastern alignments will connect Khunjerab Pass to Gwadar.
The common alignment for all the three eastern, western and central routes including 790 km road from Khunjerab to Burhan and 193 km road from Hoshab to Gwadar has been completed already.
Burhan will be at the intersection of the Eastern and Western Alignment.
According to the officials in the Ministry of Communication, the distance of the Eastern route starting from Islamabad to Karachi is 1,419 km, out of which 79% work on motorways has been completed whereas 21% is left which is 306 km Sukkur Hyderabad motorway.This is the only patch left in the eastern route of CPEC. Sukkur Hyderabad motorway is expected to be complete in the next 30 months. The company which won the tender has already been allowed to start its construction.
On the other hand, the western route of CPEC starts from Islamabad to D. I Khan, then D. I Khan to Quetta, and from Quetta to Gwadar. Excluding the common alignment, the total length of this route is 1,714 km. Out of which 68% has been completed while 32% is under construction.
The Islamabad to D I khan motorway has been completed recently. The very important link of the western route of CPEC is D.I khan to Zoub and Quetta which is 540 km patch.
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The China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) Western Route development is strategically significant to realize broader connectivity and regional common prosperity.
https://www.app.com.pk/global/cpec-western-route-development-strate...
These views were expressed by Cheng Xizhong, visiting Prof. at Southwest University of Political Science and Law, and former Defence Attache in South Asian countries said.
The construction of the Hakla-D I Khan Motorway, a milestone achievement on the CPEC Western Route, has been completed and put into operation, which provides fast connectivity to the locals as well as paves the way for preparing the shortest route for logistics moving to and from northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region to Pakistan’s Gwadar Port.
Now, transportation infrastructure is the top priority. So far, the construction of the 235 km Quetta-Sohrab Road, the 449 km Surab-Hoshab Road, the 193 km Hoshab-Gwadar Road, the 210 km D I Khan-Zhob Road and the 297 km Hakla-D I Khan Motorway have been successfully completed, he said in his article published by China Economic Net (CEN).
Other transportation infrastructure projects on the CPEC Western Route, including the 305 km Zhob-Quetta Road, the 110 km Basima-Khuzdar Road, the Nokundi-Mashkel Road and the 146 km Hoshab-Awaran Road are under construction, especially the D I Khan-Zhob Road and Zhob-Quetta Road under construction will minimize the travel time from the federal capital to Quetta.
Compared with the eastern region, western areas of Pakistan are underdeveloped. Therefore, he believed that the construction of the CPEC Western Route and development of the western areas of Pakistan are of great strategic significance.
First, the construction of transportation infrastructure can drive the development of other infrastructures such as energy, modern agriculture and industry and Special Economic Zones (SEZs), completely changing the long-term lag of social and economic development in the western region and usher in the prosperity in western part of the country.
Second, the surrounding areas of the roads and motorways on the CPEC Western Route comprise of landscapes and farms producing vegetables, pulses, grains and fruits, especially the high-quality mangoes and dates.
Therefore, western development will open up the fertile hidden areas of North Punjab, Southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan to all kinds of trade and business. Thus, it can promote large-scale employment, eliminate local poverty and enable the local people to embark on the road of prosperity together with people in other parts of the country.
Third, from the perspective of regional connectivity, the construction of the CPEC Western Route has very important regional strategic significance. Western Pakistan is adjacent to Afghanistan and Iran. Once the transportation infrastructure in western part is fully completed, it will create conditions for the CPEC westward extension.
In this way, the prosperity created by CPEC can radiate to the whole Central and West Asia through Afghanistan and Iran, so as to realize broader regional connectivity and regional common prosperity, he said.
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