OREANDA-NEWS. July 23, 2014. Xinjiang plans to build a 4,625-kilometer economic corridor connecting China and Pakistan to increase cooperation and exchange between the two countries in various fields, such as energy and the water industry.

The corridor starts from the city of Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, passes through a number of cities including Kashi, Gilgit and Islamabad, and ends at Gwadar Port, a warm-water, deep-sea port situated on the Arabian Sea at Gwadar in Balochistan province of Pakistan.

Yuan Jianmin, manager of Xinjiang Sinotrans Group, said that the channel helps meet Pakistan’s huge demand for China’s electricity, coal and water resources.

Yuan recommended that China and Pakistan build joint ventures, industrial parks and free trade zones along the economic corridor to promote energy, agricultural irrigation and telecommunications in the two countries.

He also added that, because of Pakistan’s large population, Chinese enterprises should identify the market requirements and launch high-rise building projects to address population density problems.

To date, Pakistan enterprises have been eager to seek cooperation with China’s enterprises in a variety of sectors, including petroleum, solar energy, daily necessities, fruit processing and electric appliances.