GILGIT, Pakistan: With China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) route passing through Gilgit-Baltistan, the regional government has begun to ponder over devising new strategies for bolstering trade in the territory.
Talking to Officers of Customs Department led by Member Customs Zahir Khokar in Gilgit on Friday, the Chief Minister Gilgit-Baltistan Hafiz Hafeezur Rehman said they would introduce a modern processing system for different goods in order to promote trade and business activities in the region.
Hafeezur Rehman said the government was taking comprehensive measures for introduction of a processing system so that the overall production capacity of the region could be increased.
“As we all know the importance of Gilgit-Baltistan has further enhanced after CPEC and there was a need for a comprehensive policy and planning to take full advantage of this multi-faceted project on which work was already in progress,” the Chief Minister remarked.
The Chief Minister said the Gilgit-Baltistan government was spending Rs 100 billion on different road projects in the region and work on Gilgit-Skardu Road costing Rs 33 billion was being started to open up remote areas for investment.
Hafiz Hafeezur Rehman said Rs100 billion was being spent on construction and expansion of Karakorum Highway to provide best communication facilities to the people besides opening up inaccessible and far flung areas for trade and investment.
Moreover, he said Gilgit-Chitral-Chakdara Expressway had been included in CPEC and work on it would be started soon aimed to provide best communication facilities to the people of Gilgit-Baltistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The Chief Minister said Efad project was launched to promote agriculture sector and hinted establishment of value chain system to facilitate the farmers of Gilgit-Baltistan.
The Gilgit-Baltistan Chief Minister underlined the need of modernization and effectiveness of customs system in light of CPEC for which comprehensive system fully equipped with latest tracking system was being introduced.
