Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Information and Broadcasting, Lieutenant General Asim Saleem Bajwa (retired) has said first bulk cargo ship "MV Manet" carrying wheat and urea of Afghan Transit Trade reached Gwadar this week.
In a tweet Saturday, he said: "a dream come true for local economy as it will stimulate host of business activity."
Back in the month of April, Adviser to PM on Commerce and Investment, Abdul Razak Dawood had said that Gwadar Port has been made operational for the Afghan Transit Trade.
Announcing the positive development via his twitter handle, Abdul Razak Dawood had said the Gwadar Port has been operationalised for Afghan Transit Trade under APTTA 2010. The adviser had said that that the move fulfills long standing request of the business community and the shipping industry of the country and it will also pave the way for generating business opportunities & employment both in Gwadar and along the highways. In January this year, the Gwadar Port started handling transit cargo destined for Afghanistan. The war-torn country has relied on Pakistani land routes and the two ports of Karachi and Port Qasim for international trade after a bilateral agreement, known as the Afghan Transit Trade Agreement (ATTA), signed with Islamabad. The CPEC is a collection of projects currently under construction at a cost of more than $50 billion. The major portion will be spent for enhancing energy capacity of the country and almost $12 billion on infrastructure-related projects.