Paradigm of bilateral cooperation

To accelerate the project's construction, China and Pakistan will have to forge a traffic and transportation corridor between their adjacent cities, towns and ports, to facilitate and expedite the flow of personnel and goods. By taking advantage of their free trade agreement and their trade processing areas and border trade areas, the two countries can also push for the construction of a commercial trade corridor to promote the faster development of investment as well as the bilateral trade in goods and services.

The two countries will also promote their industrial cooperation along the frontier region. China can make use of the advantages enjoyed by its western regions to leverage the complementariness between the two economies to push forward bilateral cooperation in the industrial, agricultural, mining, financial, telecommunication and service sectors. The construction of the corridor will also help both countries strengthen cooperation in nuclear, solar and biomass energy. At the same time, an oil and gas pipeline project between the two countries can also be launched.

Taking a longer perspective, the corridor, after its completion, will become a kind of economic community that can link the Asian continent to the Indian Ocean, and thus its functions and influences will extend to adjacent East, South, Central and Western Asian regions. This will produce significant influences on the geo-economy and change the established economic and trade pattern in Asia, Africa and the Indian Ocean region.

In the context of deepened cooperation and integration in Asia, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor is also expected to become a paradigm of bilateral economic cooperation, construction of free trade areas and interconnectivity. As Hussain pointed out ahead of his visit, the corridor will benefit not only people in Pakistan and China, but also billions of people in the whole region.

Hussain also said he hopes his visit will strengthen personnel exchanges with China and promote the development of bilateral cultural ties. To this end, he will spare some time in his busy agenda to visit the heads of the Pakistan study centers set up in several Chinese universities. In late March, the heads of these centers will attend a China-Pakistan commercial and trade forum as well as the symposium on strategic cooperation between think tanks in Islamabad.

Like previous leaders of Pakistan, Hussain views China as Pakistan's best friend, while China also puts ties with Pakistan in a preferential diplomatic position. Under the current complicated and changeable regional and international situations, the frequent high-level visits between China and Pakistan and their close communications and cooperation will not only help consolidate bilateral strategic cooperative partnership, but also benefit the peace and stability of the region.

The author is director of the Pakistan Study Centre, Fudan University.

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