China to welcome Iran’s inclusion in CPEC, says ambassador

ISLAMABAD:  Iran’s inclusion in China-Pakistan Economic Corridor would beneficial for both Tehran and Islamabad, said China’s Ambassador to Pakistan Sun Weidong on Monday.

In an interview with Iranian news agency, the Chinese ambassador said his country was looking forward to enhancing its cooperation with Iran through CPEC.

Iran had shown willingness to become part of the CPEC in a meeting between President Hassan Rouhani and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in New York on the sidelines of the latest session of the United Nations General Assembly.

“We think that Iran can also be a very important country along the Belt and the Road initiative, so we really look forward to enhance our cooperation with Iran,” Sun Weidong said.

“CPEC is a win-win cooperation so we are looking forward to explore the possibilities of cooperation among the all the regional countries”.

There are many projects under the CPEC framework that are being implementing or under construction in Pakistan, said the ambassador.

“There are 16 major projects that are under construction and Chinese side has already invested more than $13 billion,” he added.

The diplomat said  CPEC has created tens of thousands of jobs opportunities in Pakistan.

China-Pakistan economic corridor (CPEC) is a mega project between the two countries under which China will invest $46 billion in Pakistan.

The economic corridor is about 3,000 kilometres long consisting of highways, railways and pipelines that will connect China’s Xinjiang province to Pakistan’s Gwadar port.