KUNMING (February 11 2009): The proposed South West Corridor of the 3rd Asia-Europe continental land-bridge when completed will bring economic prosperity in Pakistan as well as countries under its umbrella in South Asia, Europe and Africa, said a senior Chinese research scholar in a media briefing.
The strategic passageway, a brain child of experts of Yunnan Province of China that has got the nod from many experts and government officials to launch the project will pass through three cities of Pakistan namely Lahore, Sukkur and Quetta, said President and Research Fellow of Yunnan Academy of Economics Duan Gang while giving briefing on this all time important corridor of land bridge to domestic and foreign media on Tuesday.
The briefing was arranged on the sidelines of the weeklong plenary session of the 11th People's Congress of Standing Committee of Yunnan Province. The session was kicked off on February 7 with the address of Provincial Governor Qin Guangrong in which he presented 2008 annual report and his government plan for 2009. It was for the first time that the foreign media had been invited to cover the provincial session of the People's Congress.When completed, it will not only bring economic prosperity for the people of Pakistan, but will also be a source of integration for various nationalities as well as their cultures with each other, he noted.
He said the project would also play a key role to narrow the gap of trade imbalance between China and Pakistan. Gang pointed out that the Corridor would pass through 17 countries of Asia, Europe and Africa.Last, year, Gang said that second of the three stages sets for the project was completed with holding of an international scientific seminar that was attended by a dozen of foreign experts including those from Pakistan in Beijing in November 2008 in which Pakistani delegation also appreciated the initiative.
No doubt the project is practicable, a determined Gang said while emphasising that only in patches, the railway tracks are to be laid by the concerned countries.For example, in Pakistan, the track from Lahore to Balochistan is already operational, he noted. On our part, Gang said that China has completed the construction of railway track from Kunming, the provincial capital of Yunnan province, while work from Dali to Ruili is being completed on fast track. Set 2015, as target set for accomplishment, experts believe that the south-west corridor was the most important part of the Asia-Europe Continental land-bridge.
The south-west part of the proposed 15000-km-long corridor will start from Kunming, capital of south-western China's Yunnan Province, go southwards to Dali, Ruili and end up at Myanmar's port city Kyaukpyu where it connects with the Bangladesh railways that was already in operation.The corridor would greatly improve communications and co-operation in the intra-Asian region as well as between Asia and the rest of the world, he observed.
Highlighting the importance of the project in present economic world meltdown, Gang said that the global economy is faced by multiple challenges.
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