Bank of China to open branch in Pakistan’s Gwadar

A branch of the Bank of China will be opened in the Pakistani port city of Gwadar soon, while an International Expo Center will be inaugurated in Gwadar by end of this year, chairman of Gwadar Port Authority Dostain Jamaldeen said.

Gwadar in the troubled Baluchistan district is one of the terminal points of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which India views with suspicion.

After a meeting with the president of a private bank in Gwadar, Jamaldeen also said that branches of a few international banks besides local banks are also being opened in Gwadar, one of them being the Bank of China.

''Opening these banks will further strengthen the business investment here. Gwadar Port and Overseas Port Holding Company has allowed two banks to open their branches here,'' the GPA chairman said.

Jamaldeen also said that the construction work will be completed in the Gwadar 'free zones' in the coming months. In the first week of December, the Prime Minister of Pakistan and Chinese ministers will inaugurate the first International Expo Center in the Gwadar Free Zone. Over 100 Chinese companies are taking part in it.

He said that local people will be involved in the development of Gwadar for which the Fish Processing Company is being established.