After a four-month winter break, the crucial commercial route known as the Khunjerab Pass has reopened. The new trade season has begun with over a dozen trucks carrying commodities from China into Pakistan.
The “Iron Brothers” reopened trade on Monday following a four-month halt brought on by the harsh winter conditions at the frontier that links China’s Xinjiang province with Gilgit Baltistan.
The CEO of AJ International Cargo and local officials welcomed the trade convoys arriving from Xinjiang during a ceremony held to mark the start of the new trade season. Prominent businesspeople from Gilgit-Baltistan also took part in the occasion.
Fifteen containers with commercial items entered Pakistan on the day of the opening. Over 400 containers had entered Pakistan via this high-altitude commerce route in the six months before to the closure, bringing in Rs5.45 billion in customs income.
According to former Gilgit Assembly member Javed Hussain, who asked the federal government to keep the pass open year-round for commercial traffic, the restoration of trade has also given people job prospects.
