The Express Tribune

The connectivity through mega CPEC project will enhance trade opportunities for Pakistan with 70 per cent of the international maritime trade via Pakistan’s two big ports of Karachi and Gwadar.According to a Khaleej Times report, the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is planned to shoot up for a $150 billion investment, and a new whole world of business that will make it the largest economic region, as details of its size and stature are unveiled this week.The plan is to connect three engines of growth - South Asia, China and Central Asian Republics and aligning it with the entire South, Northern and North-Western regions.Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had on Sunday voiced confidence that once ready the CPEC projects would turn around the economic outlook of the whole region. The premier's remarks came just a day after Vice Minister of the International Department of the Communist Party of China, Zheng Xiaosong, stressed that political consensus is essential for fully exploiting the potential of the economic corridor.Zheng, while talking with a visiting delegation of the PPP in Beijing, said: “Political consensus coupled with unanimity in approach is essential to draw the maximum benefits from this mega project which is a game-changer for the region.” These comments are significant because it came just days after Indian PM Narendra Modi had accused Pakistan of fomenting terrorism in South Asia while speaking at the just concluded G-20 summit in China.Published in, September 13, 2016.