China and Pakistan will resume regulated border trade “in two stages.”
The Chinese Embassy in Islamabad sent a letter to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan. The embassy stated that China and Pakistan will resume regulated border trade through a designated activity area at Khunjerab Pass.
Additionally, Passengers will not deny entry into the country. Tourists will prohibit from entering the border port city.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan had requested that the Khunjerab border reopen to allow cross-border commerce and people-to-people exchanges.
However, the Government of China has permitted the resumption of limited trading practices and pledged that China and Pakistan will resume regulated border trade shortly.
During the first phase, as per SOPs, trade items will deliver separately in the designated service area at Khunjerab Pass.
Following this, there will be no face-to-face interaction. The Chinese side would unload freight containers at the service area on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. The Pakistani side will load the containers in the service area on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays.
In the second process (May 1 to November 30), the Chinese side will carry out the shipping activity during the first three weeks of the month using the same procedure as in phase 1. Entry operations for overseas containers (empty containers) will take place in the fourth week. That will allow one-way cargo exports from China to Pakistan.
The Chinese Embassy requested that all front-line personnel, drivers, and conductors at the Port be vaccinated and that strict Coronavirus-related SOPs as specified by the Government of China will follow.
According to the boundary deal, the China-Pakistan border remains closed from December 1 to March 31. Thanks to the Coronavirus pandemic, the border has closed indefinitely. The border had open for a few weeks in July 2020 to allow the movement of stranded containers, then again in September to move medical supplies donated by the Chinese government to the United Kingdom to deal with Covid-19, and finally in December to transport equipment for a power plant in Hunza.
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