Chinese FDI to Solve Energy Crisis, Revive Economy in Pakistan

China's state-owed banks will finance Chinese companies to fund, build and operate $45.6 billion worth of energy and infrastructure projects in Pakistan over the next six years, according to Reuters.

Major Chinese companies investing in Pakistan's energy sector will include China's Three Gorges Corp which built the world's biggest hydro power project, and China Power International Development Ltd.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and President Xi Jinping


Under the agreement signed by Chinese and Pakistani leaders at a Beijing summit recently, $15.5 billion worth of coal, wind, solar and hydro energy projects will come online by 2017 and add 10,400 megawatts of energy to the national grid.  An additional 6,120 megawatts will be added to the national grid at a cost of $18.2 billion by 2021.

Total Foreign Direct Investment Source:  World Development Indicators 



Starting in 2015, the Chinese companies will invest an average of over $7 billion a year until 2021, a figure exceeding the previous record of $5.5 billion foreign direct investment in 2007 in Pakistan.

FDI As Percentage of GDP. Source: World Development Indicators



With over $7 billion a year, it will still, however, barely match the prior record of 3.75% of GDP set in 2007.

The biggest upside of this investment will be the generation of over 16,000 MW of additional electricity which should revitalize Pakistan's business and industry sectors and significantly boost its GDP.

The deal can be win-win for both if the Chinese companies coming in as independent power producers (IPPs)  enjoy significant returns of 17% to 27% a year on their investment while Pakistan actually alleviates the nation's crippling electricity crisis to get its economy moving again.  The assumption here is that Pakistan has learned from and corrected the prior mistakes in its existing cost-plus IPP contracts which guarantee significant profits to IPPs regardless of costs, efficiency and amount of power supplied to the grid.

Rapid increase in power generation is a well understood pre-requisite for accelerating industrialization and major improvements in productivity in this day and age. Pakistan needs sustained sharp focus on increasing electricity availability to improve productivity and living standards of its people.

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Comment by Riaz Haq on February 6, 2015 at 4:15pm

Minister for Planning Development and Reforms Ahsan Iqbal Friday ruled out any plan to change the design of Pakistan-China Economic Corridor – a project symbolising new vision of Pak-China economic partnership.

“The Pak-China economic corridor is not a game changer but a fate changer for Pakistan and for the prosperity of three billion people of the region,” Ahsan Iqbal said addressing a press conference on Friday.

“Pakistan-China economic corridor is imperative for regional trade integration and to enhance economic activities in the country,” he remarked. Ahsan resolved that the mega project was aimed at uniting all federating units including the remote areas of Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab, Sindh, Azad Jammu Kashmir (AJK) and Gilgit Baltistan Region.

He added that a transit trade between Pakistan and China would be started from Gwadar, adding that backward areas of Balochistan would especially benefit from the economic corridor project.

The minister said that energy and infrastructure was more important for economic development of any country, and: “our government was working on strategic road map and formulated the vision 2025 to enhance infrastructure and energy projects with the cooperation of friendly China.”

The economic corridor and connected energy projects with a total investment of $45 billion during the next five years was a glaring example of the close friendship between the Pakistan and China.

He added that Pak-China energy corridor also included the project of generating 16,000 MW electricity to benefit the industrial zones and domestic consumers in the country.

The economic corridor would give Pakistan a pivot in the region boosting trade and commerce links with the regional economies, said Ahsan Iqbal. The 2,100-kilometer corridor would include special economic zones, a railways system and a model city, airport as well as a free port at Gwadar, he said.

The government, he said, was planning to establish a state-of-the-art industrial zone in Gwadar which would be a core feature of Pakistan-China trade corridor. The economic corridor considered the multiple route for the connectivity of urban and remote rural population of the country to provide equal development opportunities to the people.

The corridor, he said, was a landmark project which would connect Pakistan’s deep sea Gwadar port with China’s Xinjiang region bordering Gilgit Baltistan, an area full of natural resources.

Both Pakistan and China have launched a number of mega projects under the umbrella of economic corridor in several fields like energy, infrastructure and connectivity which would revitalise Pakistan’s economy.

To provide greater connectivity to Gwadar Port, he said, “Various initiatives have been taken as Gwadar can act as a hub for trade between Pakistan, China, Central Asia, Gulf Region and Afghanistan”, he added.

He said the Gwadar port had the potential to become the most convenient, economic and popular access route for Central Asian commerce and as an energy corridor. Ahsan Iqbal said Pakistan had important geo-economic and geo-strategic position to connect the whole region and convert it as trade hub for the entire region.

He regretted that again some quarters propagated against the Pak-China economic corridor that too when the Chinese president was expected to visit Pakistan.

He added that earlier the Chinese president’s visit was cancelled because of different rumours spread during the PTI-PAT sit-in at D-Chowk.

Ahsan Iqbal said the government had taken necessary steps to enhance economic and trade ties with all regional and other countries including the United States, China and Afghanistan in order to maintain peace and prosperity in the country and the region.

http://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2015/02/06/business/no-change-in-de...

Comment by Riaz Haq on February 18, 2015 at 8:24pm

From IHS Jane's 360:

Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi reiterated calls for the implementation of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) to be expedited during his two-day visit to Pakistan on 12 February.

As part of China's wider plans to increase connectivity in Asia, the CPEC is planned to connect Gwadar port in Pakistan's Balochistan province to Kashgar in China's western Xinjiang province through road infrastructure, railways, and oil and gas pipelines. In November 2014, the Chinese government committed to investing USD45.6 billion until 2020 for the various projects included under the CPEC, of which USD15 billion will be spent on renewable energy projects to alleviate Pakistan's energy shortages.

However, the CPEC's route has been the subject of intense domestic debate in Pakistan over the past month, resulting in two walk-outs from parliament. The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provincial governments have accused the Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz (PML-N) federal government, which draws its support primarily from Punjab, of altering the CPEC's road transportation route away from the two comparatively underdeveloped provinces. The PML-N government on the other hand argues that it plans to use the existing road network in Punjab and Sindh on an interim basis while the route through Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan is developed, which could take as many four years according to current government estimates.

FORECAST
While the intensity of debate indicates the CPEC's likely initiation, the possibility of losing the broader development that it represents underpins the risk of protests and riots in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan in at least the three-month outlook. Already in Quetta, Balochistan's provincial capital, traders went on general strike backed by local political parties on 13 February. Protests are likely to remain relatively peaceful and cause less than 24 hours of disruption, unless a major political party intensifies its opposition. The most likely is Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), which heads the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government. The party has already launched two major protest movements, including a four-month anti-government sit-in that ended in December 2014 as well as a cargo blockade in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa from November 2013 to February 2014.

http://www.janes.com/article/49001/debate-over-china-pakistan-econo...

Comment by Riaz Haq on February 22, 2015 at 4:59pm

Express Tribune Op Ed by Pervez Tahir:


Traditionally, the Chinese side stays clear of Pakistan’s internal political controversies. Its interest in the project is, however, obvious. It extends its economic outreach in general and opens up laggard western regions to the world. The equity argument to bring these regions on a par with others ends at Khunjerab. Beyond Khunjerab, hard economics takes over. As the principal investor, the Chinese side would look for the quickest and the most cost-effective route to Gwadar. It is also necessary to make this sleepy port functional. Security costs may also have been factored in. As a recipient with minimal choices, this is what the government seems to be doing by filling the gaps in the Havelian-Islamabad-Lahore-Multan-Sukkur-Ratodero-Khuzdar-Gwadar route. Four ‘early harvest’ projects — land acquisition and shifting of utilities for the Karachi-Lahore motorway, construction of the Lahore-Abdul Hakim-Khanewal section, construction of the Multan-Sukkur section and construction of the Raikot-Havelian-Islamabad section — were included in the Public Sector Development Programme of 2014-15. The last two are largely financed by Chinese credit. Earlier this month, a delegation visited China to fast-track these projects.

No one knows which was the original route. The opposition claims that it passed through southern K-P, Zhob and Quetta. This is the shortest but the costliest route in terms of time and money. What was the opposition doing when the projects related to the eastern route were made part of the development budget? Waking up to the change now rather than debating it in the budget session reflects politicians proverbial lack of interest in economic matters. This late realisation and insistence on the most difficult route might endanger the entire Pakistan-China Economic Corridor project, which includes a focus on energy and economic zones and not just transit trade. In terms of cost, economic advantage and future opportunities, the middle ground is occupied by the route connecting Abbottabad, Mianwali, D I Khan, D G Khan, Ratodero, Khuzdar, Turbat and Gwadar. The route fulfils the original dream of the Indus Highway as an alternative artery. It connects the backward districts of all the provinces and is linked to Fata, Quetta and Zhob. Proximity to Central Asia, Afghanistan and Iran brings the concept of the economic corridor into full bloom. The time to exploit the full potential of Gwadar will also be reduced.
When all but one opposition party meets, as is being reported in the press, the one deemed to promote the cause of just one province, it is hoped that the development of Pakistan will be the main consideration. The current focus of the government on completing the eastern route may make immediate economic sense, but its long-term potential is limited. The Chinese fully understand that the opening up of new areas pushes the frontiers of economic opportunity further, while diminishing returns set in quickly from investment in relatively developed areas. So the equity argument does not end at the Chinese border. It extends to Pakistan also but without sacrificing the economic advantage. There could be no better Marshall plan than this connectivity.

http://tribune.com.pk/story/840974/mini-marshall-plan-or-economic-c...

Comment by Riaz Haq on February 23, 2015 at 8:32am

The federal cabinet of Pakistan, during a meeting Monday, approved the Pakistan-China economic corridor, a media report said. Approval was also given along for starting negotiations with Beijing for importing 1,000 megawatts of electricity from China by laying a new transmission line, Dawn online reported. The Pakistan-China Economic Corridor (PCEC) is the country's biggest road project launched by the government. Work on one of the sections of the PCEC was initiated in December 2014, under which a motorway from Havelian to Thakot as phase one of the Islamabad-Raikot section of the corridor would be constructed. The Havalian to Thakot section of the corridor is being financed by China while other phases will be carried out on the basis of build, operate and Transfer (BOT).

http://www.business-standard.com/article/news-ians/pakistan-china-e...

Comment by Riaz Haq on March 2, 2015 at 10:21pm

Even though the project had not yet got off the ground, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, Moody’s Investor Services – one of the three largest credit rating agencies in the world – has described the project as a ‘credit positive’ for the country, implying that the economic growth generated will eventually help the government’s finances.
“The government’s support for the implementation of the so-called China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is credit positive for Pakistan because it will spur investment activity, boost bilateral trade flows and help ease the country’s growing energy shortages,” Moody’s said in a note issued to clients on Monday, according to a report in the International Business Times.
The $46-billion project would create a 2,000-kilometre road and rail link from China’s western hinterlands to the Gwadar Port, creating a network of infrastructure in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan to match the one originally built by the British (and expanded by successive Pakistani governments) in Punjab and Sindh.
Moody’s has the lowest rating for Pakistan, at Caa1, just two grades above default. The rating implies that Pakistan is dependent on favourable economic conditions to be able to pay its obligations. Standard & Poor’s – a rival credit rating agency – has a rating of B, two notches above the Moody’s rating. Fitch, the third credit rating agency, does not have a current credit rating for Pakistan. Both Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s have a stable outlook for Pakistan.
The influx of investment into Pakistan is what prompted Moody’s to view the economic corridor as a positive from a credit perspective. The credit rating agency uses several macroeconomic indicators to determine its rating for Pakistan’s government, including investment as a percentage of the total size of the economy.
Pakistan’s investment-to-GDP ratio is 14.6%, far lower than the median of 22.9% for countries with a B-rating, said Moody’s.
Another reason Moody’s believes this project will be positive for Pakistan is their belief that Islamabad will be able to get Beijing to finance several energy projects throughout the country that would reduce the cost of power generation, ultimately lowering the need for electricity subsidies – a key burden on the federal budget – and improving economic growth, which would in turn increase tax revenues for the government. Those two effects combined could substantially reduce the budget deficit.
The rating agency acknowledged that much of the project’s key benefits would not materialise until 2017, but stated that it believes at least some of the benefits from the economic corridor would likely begin accruing even before then.
While China is Pakistan’s largest trading partner, foreign investment from China has historically been relatively low. Over the past decade, more than a quarter of the $30 billion in foreign investment into Pakistan has come from the United States, with China’s investment being among the lowest from larger economies. However, over the last year, China was Pakistan’s largest foreign investor.
The project has run into some snags in the Senate, with lawmakers from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan alleging that the Nawaz administration is redirecting the route of the corridor to pass through Punjab and Sindh rather than their provinces. In addition, Beijing has balked at funding projects that are not directly related to connecting its economically deprived western regions to Gwadar Port.

http://tribune.com.pk/story/846730/sovereign-ratings-pak-china-econ...

Comment by Riaz Haq on March 10, 2015 at 11:11pm

Chairman China’s Three Gorges (CTG) Corporation Chun Lu has planned to invest $10 billion in Pakistan initially that will ultimately jack up its investment up to a whopping $100 billion on long-term basis with focus on the energy sector.

The Chairman, CTG Board of Directors, Chun Lu, leading a nine-member delegation had a meeting with the Finance Minister, Senator Ishaq Dar, here on Tuesday and disclosed its plan of investment. A four-member IFC team also attended the meeting.

During discussion, Chun Lu said the CTG had plans to invest 10 billion dollars in Pakistan, ultimately taking up the investment to 100 billion dollars in the long run with focus on the energy sector.

He said the CTG had entered into collaboration with the IFC forming CSAIL (China Three Gorges South Asia Investment Limited) and both of them would undertake energy projects in Pakistan. The CTG chairman said they already had undertaken investment in projects which would generate 3,000MW electricity, and had plans for further such ventures in collaboration with the Pakistani side. He also evinced keen interest in investing in the ongoing projects.

Finance Minister Ishaq Dar welcomed the investment plans of CTG and their collaboration with the IFC for projects in Pakistan. He said the government attached due importance to its ties with China and wished this strong relationship could be translated into a robust economic partnership.

He said CTG’s 100 billion dollar investment plan would greatly add to realisation of this objective.Both the sides agreed to form their respective teams to discuss modalities for CTG’s investment ventures in Pakistan. The finance minister nominated senior officials from the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Water & Power and the FBR for detailed discourse with the CTG team. He said all possible cooperation and facilitation would be offered to the CTG for investment in Pakistan.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-13-36340-Chinas-Three-Gorges-...$10-bn-in-Pakistan

Comment by Riaz Haq on March 17, 2015 at 10:25pm

Beijing’s focus and commitment to the PCEC is also manifest in the recent visit to Islamabad of a high profile Chinese expert group on long-term planning of the PCEC. Led by Hu Dongsheng, deputy director general of the China Development Bank, the 19-member group held extensive discussions on the project. Both sides emphasised the need to speed up the process of drafting the PCEC long-term plan, which includes not only roads but a lot of social infrastructure in Balochistan and other areas aligned with the corridor. If realised, the PCEC will not only benefit Pakistan in terms of improvement of its economy and security condition, but also contribute to regional peace, stability and prosperity.
The Gwadar-Kashghar route was originally planned to run through Bisima, Khuzdar, Kalat and Quetta onto Zhob, D I Khan, Hassan Abdal and onwards to Kashghar but it has been changed to Bisima, Ratodero and towards Punjab, which means bypassing the Baloch and Pakhtun areas. That is why there were recent protests in the Senate by members from Khyber- Pashtunkhwa (K-P), Fata and Balochistan. According to the new plan, the corridor route turns from Havelian towards the east and links up with the Islamabad-Lahore Motorway, to include Punjab. From here, the corridor is linked to the Lahore-Karachi Motorway and then to Gwadar. Officials at the Planning Commission argue that the completion of infrastructure in K-P and Balochistan will take a few years and thus it was imperative to utilise the existing infrastructure. This was done, insist officials, to accommodate Chinese concerns rooted in the security condition in K-P and Balochistan.
Apparently, the federal government altered the PCEC route and made it longer by 300 kilometres, without taking the Pakhtun and Baloch stakeholders into confidence. This is yet another example of the surreptitious and the high-handed approach towards the smaller provinces. The reaction from within the two provinces was natural and requires attention by the federal government.
As this bickering simmers in Pakistan, the Chinese leadership is worrying about future developments. President Xi is expected to visit Islamabad soon and will hopefully provide a fresh impetus to the PCEC-related projects, which Beijing firmly remains committed to. Chinese officials say the corridor project is not just meant for one region, but for the economic development of the whole of Pakistan. Chinese diplomats in Islamabad are both enthusiastic as well as concerned about the controversy surrounding the corridor. There will be quite a spectacle if protestors from Balochistan and K-P greeted President Xi, said an official. Why can’t Pakistani leaders sit together and flesh out the issues in an amicable and transparent way, wondered another visitor from Beijing. While there may have been complex internal security challenges as well as Chinese concerns that might have prompted changes in the corridor route but why was this done in such a controversial manner? Pakistan needs unity, transparent political conduct and a people-focused commitment like never before. 

http://tribune.com.pk/story/854706/pakistan-china-and-the-economic-...

Comment by Riaz Haq on March 28, 2015 at 9:36am

From India's Economic Times:
Silk Road projects could benefit India: CII official 

BEIJING: The Silk Road projects announced by Chinese President Xi Jinping could benefit India's infrastructure development, a Confederation of Indian Industry board member said today. 

"I am not aware of how it politically affects India but it makes sense from business and economic sense as it aimed to improve infrastructure and connectivity," said Shekhar Datta, Board member of the governing council of the Confederation of Indian Industry ( CII). 

While India has its own ini .. 

Read more at:
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/46726238.cms?utm_so...

Comment by Riaz Haq on March 29, 2015 at 3:07pm

Year of friendship: ‘#China helping #Pakistan overcome energy shortage’ #loadshedding http://tribune.com.pk/story/861049/year-of-friendship-china-helping...

Speaking about a number of ongoing power projects set up by China in Pakistan, Chinese Ambassador Sun Weidong said that the country was ready to support its neighbour overcome the energy crisis.

He was speaking at a seminar on “21st Century Maritime Silk Road and China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC),” on the sidelines of the opening session of the Pakistan-China Business Forum, here at the Comsats Institute of Information Technology (CIIT).

The ambassador said that after their completion the energy projects would inject 10,000MW electricity in Pakistan’s power sector.

The envoy said that cooperation between the two countries would continue in other areas such as infrastructure, transport, education and poverty alleviation too.

He said that the friendship between the countries was based on the ideas of peaceful coexistence, mutual understanding and a focus on development.

The ambassador invited Pakistani businessmen to explore opportunities in China.

He termed 2015 as the year of friendship and exchange of delegations between the two countries.

Weidong said that the two countries were committed to pushing bilateral relations to a new level.

Earlier, while addressing the inaugural ceremony, Federal Minister for Science and Technology Tanveer Hussian stressed on devising national strategies for human resource development and promotion of science and technology.

Federation of Pakistan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) President Mian Muhammad Idrees said that the forum provided businessmen from the two countries the opportunity to improve bilateral trade relations.

The Board of Investment (BOI) Secretary, Iftikhar Hussain Babar invited Chinese investors to invest in various sectors including energy and infrastructure in Pakistan. He said that the $45 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) was a great gift from China.

CIIT Rector Dr Junaid Zaidi said that the university had introduced an academia-driven model of business cooperation by conducting the forum.

On Sunday, a number of activities including panel discussions, seminars and workshops were held at the venue.

MoUs were signed between business conglomerates from China and CIIT for development of a “Commodity Exhibition and Trade Centre” in Islamabad.

Comment by Riaz Haq on April 8, 2015 at 9:19pm

China will build a pipeline to bring natural gas from Iran to Pakistan to help address Pakistan’s acute energy shortage, under a deal to be signed during the Chinese president’s visit to Islamabad this month, Pakistani officials said.

The arrival of President Xi Jinping is expected to showcase China’s commitment to infrastructure development in ally Pakistan, at a time when few other countries are willing to make major investments in cash-strapped, terrorism-plagued, Pakistan.

The pipeline would amount to an early benefit for both Pakistan and Iran from the framework agreement reached earlier this month between Tehran and the U.S. and other world powers to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons. The U.S. had previously threatened Pakistan with sanctions if it went ahead with the project.

ENLARGE

Dubbed the “Peace Pipeline,” the project will further bolster improving ties between Pakistan and Iran, which had been uneasy neighbors for decades as a result of Pakistan’s ties to Iran’s long-term adversaries, Saudi Arabia and the U.S.

“We’re building it,” Pakistani Petroleum Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi told The Wall Street Journal, referring to the pipeline. “The process has started.”

The pipeline will bring much-needed gas to Pakistan, which suffers from a crippling electricity deficit because of a shortage of fuel for its power-generation plants. Pakistan has been negotiating for months behind the scenes for China to build the Pakistani portion of the pipeline, which will cost up to $2 billion.

Tehran says that its 560-mile (900-kilometer) part of the pipeline from an Iranian gas field is complete. Iran has long pressed Pakistan to build its half of the scheme.

Pakistan hasn’t begun construction, however, in light of threatened sanctions from the U.S. for trading with Iran. Islamabad had been trying to work around the sanctions by asking the Chinese to construct the pipeline but not yet connect it to the Iranian portion. The prospect of an Iran nuclear agreement, which would ease the sanctions in stages once the deal is completed, has given Islamabad further impetus to clear the project. Among the first restrictions to be lifted, according to the framework accord, would be prohibitions on Iranian energy exports.

“This [Iran nuclear agreement] will help us in getting a few things which were coming into the way of the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline to be cleared and we will move forward,” Pakistan’s ambassador to Iran, Noor Muhammad Jadmani, said Sunday in Tehran, according a report on IRNA, the official Iranian news agency.

Pakistan is negotiating with China Petroleum Pipeline Bureau, a subsidiary of Chinese energy giant China National Petroleum Corporation, to build 435 miles (700 kilometers) of pipeline from the western Pakistani port of Gwadar to Nawabshah in the southern province of Sindh, where it will connect to Pakistan’s existing gas-distribution pipeline network.

China Petroleum Pipeline Bureau referred questions to CNPC, which didn’t respond to a request for comment.

The cost would be $1.5 billion to $1.8 billion for the pipeline, or $2 billion if an optional Liquefied Natural Gas terminal at Gwadar is included in the scheme. Under the deal, 85% of the financing will be provided by a Chinese loan, with Pakistan coming up with the rest.

The remaining 50 miles (80 kilometers), from Gwadar to the Iranian border, will be built by Pakistan. The pipeline, which would take two years to build, would eventually supply Pakistan with enough gas to fuel 4,500 megawatts of electricity generation—almost as much as the country’s entire current electricity shortfall.

The pipeline would give Iran a market to its east for its gas. The pipeline scheme, conceived in 1995, originally was supposed to extend to India. Tehran blames U.S. pressure for India dropping out in 2009.

Islamabad believes the Iranian gas is the cheapest and simplest energy supply option for Pakistan. Pakistan will also start to take liquefied natural gas from Qatar, and it remains in protracted multicountry negotiations over a pipeline that would bring gas from Turkmenistan through Afghanistan to supply Pakistan and India. Washington had long lobbied Pakistan to go for the Turkmenistan pipeline instead of the Iranian one. There was no immediate comment from the U.S. embassy in Islamabad on whether Washington had now changed its view on the Iran pipeline.

The Chinese president’s visit, which has been postponed at least twice, is now expected on or around April 19.

Pakistan has had a close strategic alliance with China for decades—aimed mostly against common foe India—but now Beijing is seeking to add an economic dimension to the relationship. Islamabad and Beijing plan an “economic corridor” linking the Pakistani port of Gwadar, which is under Chinese management, to southwestern China with road and rail connections. The highly ambitious program, which also includes power-generation projects, carries a price tag of some $40 billion. Unveiling agreements and details for the economic corridor will form a center piece of Mr. Xi’s visit.

The Iran pipeline isn't part of the economic corridor but it will be separately fast-tracked, Pakistani officials said.

“The Chinese have an expertise, a willingness to come here, and also work in areas which are not considered to be very safe,” said Hamayoun Khan, director of the Pakistan Council on China, an independent think tank based in Islamabad.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/china-to-build-pipeline-from-iran-to-pa...

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