Source: BBC
China’s President Xi Jinping is on a two-day visit to Pakistan, where he is expected to announce investment of $46bn (£30.7bn).
The focus of spending is on building a China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) – a network of roads, railway and pipelines between the long-time allies.
They will run some 3,000km (1,865 miles) from Gwadar in Pakistan to China’s western Xinjiang region.
The projects will give China direct access to the Indian Ocean and beyond.
This marks a major advance in China’s plans to boost its economic influence in Central and South Asia, correspondents say, and far exceeds US spending in Pakistan.
“Pakistan, for China, is now of pivotal importance. This has to succeed and be seen to succeed,” Reuters quoted Mushahid Hussain Sayed, chairman of the Pakistani parliament’s defence committee, as saying.
Pakistan, for its part, hopes the investment will boost its struggling economy and help end chronic power shortages.
Pakistan lands $46 billion investment from China
CNN Money
Pakistan spared no expense in rolling out the red carpet for Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday.
That’s hardly surprising given he’s in town to bestow $46 billion in development deals on the cash-strapped country.
The investments — equivalent to roughly 20% of Pakistan’s annual GDP — should fortify an already warm relationship between China and Pakistan. The alliance is built partly to offset Indian power in the region, and partly because of Islamabad’s value as a gateway to the Indian ocean and beyond.
The benefits for Pakistan are obvious. China’s so-called “iron brother” gets the billions it desperately needs for infrastructure.
Mushahid Hussain, chairman of the Pakistan-China Institute, calls the package a “game changer.” Pakistan is largely shunned by the global investment community, and a deal like this could prove vital to its economic development.
Most projects will be in energy and transport, concentrated in the proposed “China-Pakistan Economic Corridor,” which stretches 3,000 kilometers from Kashgar in far western China to Islamabad and the port cities of Karachi and Gwadar, near Pakistan’s border with Iran.
http://money.cnn.com/2015/04/20/news/economy/pakistan-china-aid-infrastucture/index.html?iid=SF_BN_Lead