By Masood Sattar Khan
(Pakistan News & Features Services)
(Pakistan News & Features Services)
The operationalization of the Gwadar port will help ease congestions on county’s existing two ports as well as intertwine global trade as the port and free zone in Gwadar have already become operational thus creating opportunities for employment, investment and commerce, according to Pakistan’s Ambassador to China, Naghmana Hashmi.
The Gwadar port will complement our other port and make Pakistan an increasingly efficient and attractive trans-shipment hub between China, Central Asia, Middle East and Africa, she said in an interview with Beijing Review, an English language magazine published from China.
The interview has been headlined ‘A Friendship: Here to Stay’ by the magazine as she spoke at length about the various aspects of bilateral relations on the occasion of the 69th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic relationship between Pakistan and China. She termed the friendship as ‘the ties mark 69 years of concord, cooperation and connectivity.’
Reflecting on the monumental journey traversed by Pakistan and China over the past decades called to mind the Chinese proverb ‘finding a soulmate who knows one’s heart is far harder than striking gold,’ she reckoned.
Tracing the history of diplomatic ties, Ambassador Naghamana Hashmi recalled that the first high-level contact, between Pakistani Prime Minister, Mohammad Ali Bogra, and the Chinese Premier, Zhou Enlai, on the sidelines of the Bandung Conference in Indonesia in 1965 initiated a tradition of frequent exchanges that have endured todate. Premier Zhou had visited Pakistan a record number of times, a unique feat in bilateral relationship.
She pointed out that on the international stage, where ceaseless change is the only certainty along the long road to harmonious interdependence, she cherished at the wisdom of successive generation of the two nations in forging a bond of stronger than steel, and bequeathing the invaluable legacy to those to follow.
