Belt and Road initiative 'win-win for everyone': Pakistani envoy

China's Belt and Road Initiative is a "win-win for everybody" as it connects "hearts" in countries along with the paths, Pakistan's UN ambassador Maleeha Lodhi has said.

Lodhi looks forward to a high-level forum to be hosted by China to boost international cooperation in carrying out the landmark initiative by the world's second-largest economy, she told Xinhua news agency.

The Belt and Road Initiative "is win-win for the whole region", said Lodhi.

She said it is certainly "a cornerstone of Pakistan's foreign policy on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor", which is part of the initiative.

China plans to host a Belt and Road forum for international cooperation in Beijing this May to brainstorm on interconnected development.

The Belt and Road Initiative, comprising the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road, was put forward by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013.

It aims at building a trade and infrastructure network connecting Asia with Europe and Africa.

"We would like to play a leading role in ensuring regional connectivity, which brings not just people together, but hearts together, because regional connectivity aims to ensure that all people prosper from economic cooperation and trade relations," she said.

Lodhi also stressed that the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is a good example of the international efforts to carry out the Belt and Road Initiative. India has taken objection to eh CPEC, as portions of it pass through the Pakistan Administerdd Kashmir.

The corridor is a 3,000 km network of roads, railways and pipelines linking Kashgar in Xinjiang region and Pakistan's Gwadar Port.

--IANS

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