State Pao: Afghan Evening News Clips 15 August 2015

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Abbottabad. The completion of the motorways‘ network will help to
shorten the distance as well as reduce travelling time between the
two neighboring countries; Besides Afghanistan, businessmen and
traders from Central Asian states will also_benefit from the
corridor A
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as they can easily export their goods to Middle East and European
Countries through Gwadar Port. Apart from improving road.
connectivity, China—Pak Economic Corridor will also generate
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opportunities as well as play a vital role in economic integration
of ‘
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the region and countries like Iran and Central Asian States will be
able to benefit from this project. The corridor is, hopefully,
-destined to bring rapid industrialization as well as greater
investment to Pakistan which would have certainly healthy impact on
Afghan economy. The Afghan businessmen and traders as well as
general '
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public will be in position to capitalize upon the emerging economic
opportunities as a result of materialization of the corridor. CPEC
has a greater regional and economic value as it would encourage
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regional countries including Central Asian States to follow suit by
entering into similar arrangement with China. The project has
enormous potential to reshape the economic outlook of the regional
countries. . .
Improving road connectivity and infrastructure development in
Afghanistan are the major priorities of Pakistan. In this regard,
Pakistan has undertaken a number of projects including 75Km
Torkham—Jalalabad Road and 46 km road between Peshawar and Torkham.
The Peshawar—Torkham road has almost been completed whereas the
second lane of Jalalabad-Torkham road will, hopefully, be completed
within_a year. In order to further facilitate Afghan transit trade
and boost Pak—Afghan trade, Pakistan has constructed two roads
leading from D.I. Khan to Angoor Adda and Ghulam Khan linking
Paktika. ‘
and Khost provinces of Afghanistan respectively. These strategic
trade links, built by_Pakistan, will enormously facilitate the
trade - »
and transit links between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Apart from the above—mentioned roads, plans are afoot to construct
motorway between Kabul and Peshawar_and the homework on this
project -
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has already started. Similarly, laying Railway lines between
Peshawar '
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and Jalalabad and Chaman and Spin Boldak is also the priority of
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8/23/2017
Approved for Release: 2018/09/04 C06708887