A COSCO Wellington cargo vessel has opened a new trade route for Chinese goods to travel to the Persian Gulf region and the Middle East via the renovated Pakistani port of Gwadar.

    On Sunday, Pakistan’s prime minister and army chief welcomed the first large shipment of Chinese goods through the Gwadar part of the trade link between western China and the Arabian Sea.

    The deep-water port in Pakistan’s southwestern province of Baluchistan is key to the US$46 billion China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) that also encompasses roads and energy projects.

    Baluchistan is home to an ethnic nationalist insurgency as well as operations by sectarian militants including Lashkar-e-Jangvi, which has previously said it partners with Islamic State’s Middle East-based leadership.

    Pakistan has raised a dedicated security force to protect CPEC projects.

    Addressing a ceremony celebrating the arrival of the co-organized trade convoy, Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan Sun Weidong said this is the first time that a trade convoy successfully passed through the western part of Pakistan from the north to the south. “It proves the connectivity of local roads, and realization of the concept of ‘one corridor with multiple passages’.”

    The Gwadar port is located on the Arabian Sea and it occupies a strategic location between South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. The port is also located at the mouth of the Persian Gulf, just outside the Straits of Hormuz.

    With the loading of the last container onto the COSCO Wellington cargo vessel, the Gwadar port also marked its first export of a large number of containers to overseas destinations, showing that the port has restored the designed handling capacity.

    China is seeking convenient and reliable access to the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean. Chinese ships now use the Strait of Malacca, a narrow passage between the Malay Peninsula and Indonesia. The proposed new route would give China access to the Persian Gulf region and the Middle East.(SD-Agencies)