The United States is backing a “New Silk Road” through Central Asia to boost economic connectivity across India, Pakistan and Afghanistan, with secretary of state Hillary Clinton envisaging a trade network where a “Pakistani businessman can set up shop in Bangalore”.
Ms Clinton discussed the idea with Pakistan foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar at a meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, senior US officials said.
Ms Clinton’s vision encompasses “an economic space between Central Asia and India, Bangladesh,” United States officials said, saying it would be a modern version of the historic Silk Route through which South and Central Asian nations interlinked for trade and cultural exchanges. Through this, Indian merchants used to trade spices, gems and textiles from the Great Wall of China to the banks of the Bosphorus.
The new Silk Road would not be a single thoroughfare, but an international web and network of economic and transit connections, US officials said.
“That means building more rail lines, highways, energy infrastructure, like the proposed pipeline from Turkmenistan, through Afghanistan, through Pakistan into India. It means upgrading facilities at border crossings, such as India and Pakistan are now doing at Wagah,” they said. It would also focus on removing bureaucratic barriers.
— PTI