Pakistan signed new deals with China on Saturday worth nearly $500 million ahead of Beijing’s international forum on its “Silk Road” trade and infrastructure initiative for Asia, Africa and Europe, the Pakistani government said.
The memorandums of understanding add to $57 billion already pledged for the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a network of rail, road and energy infrastructure that is part of the wider Chinese project also known as One Belt-One Road (OBOR).
The deals came as Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif met Chinese President Xi Jinping ahead of the Beijing summit expected to be attended by leaders from at least 29 countries to promote Xi’s vision of expanding trade links.
Delegates in Beijing will hold a series of sessions on Sunday to discuss the plan in more detail, including trade and finance.
“China-Pakistan Economic Corridor is a core component of your visionary initiative of the ‘One Belt-One Road,’” Sharif told Xi when they met at the Great Hall of China on Saturday, according to the Associated Press of Pakistan (APP).
Meanwhile, Pakistan’s central bank has granted the government-run Bank of China (BoC) a license to operate in the country to ease the financial requirements of the “Belt and Road” projects, the central bank said on Saturday.

Source: Arab News