The first economic success of more than US $46 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor(CPEC) in general, and of Afghanistan-Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement (APTTA)in particular, materialized after a cargo ship named “Diyala” carrying a consignment for Afghanistan landed on the shores of Gwadar – a deep sea port south-west of Pakistan in the Balochistan province on January 14, 2020.[1] The trucks at Gwadar loaded with the chemical fertilizers and transported via the border crossing at Chaman into Afghanistan marks the first operational use of Gwadar Port for trade activities – a major success for Pakistan as well as China.
Previously, under the trade agreement, the ports of Karachi and Qasim were used to transit goods to landlocked Afghanistan. Gwadar had been slow down for last two years. Frequent threats by Baloch insurgents, bureaucratic hurdles and other governance issues in Pakistan, had halted the progress of Gwadar Port being operational. However, its use in Afghan transit trade is seen as a beginning of the economic revival of the project in three major ways.
