Large numbers of traders, tourists cross border

BEIJING:

experienced a significant rise in cross-border traffic in the first half of the current calendar year, with 21,000 travelers, representing a 110% year-on-year increase.

On June 11, the port cleared 1,123 people in a single day, breaking the previous record. The Khunjerab Border Inspection Station, under the Xinjiang Entry-Exit Border Inspection General Station, attributes this remarkable growth to the increasing number of Pakistani traders and cross-border tourists, Chinese media reported on Tuesday.

The enhanced travel enthusiasm among Chinese travelers has been fueled by the National Immigration Administration’s revised and optimised entry-exit management policies, which introduced a series of facilitation measures. Pakistani merchants have been actively transporting goods such as pine nuts, herbs, copperware, carpets and jade crafts to China for sale, while bringing back daily necessities to Pakistan.

Khunjerab Pass is the sole land port between China and Pakistan, playing a pivotal role in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) – a gigantic project under which roads, highways and power plants have been constructed over the past around one decade. CPEC has now entered its second phase, where key focus is on cooperation in industrial and agricultural development.

The land port’s advantageous geographical location, approximately 270 kilometres from Gilgit and 870 kilometres from Islamabad, positions it as a crucial conduit for international trade and cross-border tourism between the two nations.