Port Office

Apr 27, 2014 (LBO) - Sri Lanka has been invited to set up a trade office at strategic Chinese-run Gwadar port in Pakistan after a delegation from Pakistan met President Mahinda Rajapaksa, his office said.







"The port is a part of a larger effort by Pakistan to establish a Pakistan-China economic corridor," the President's media office said in a statement.

"President Rajapaksa also briefed the visiting provincial members of the significance of the Hambantota Port, which revives the historic silk route and is also strategically located just 10 nautical miles away from the world’s busiest east-west shipping lane.

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Gwadar port is built on land originally bought by Pakistan from Oman. From 2013 its management was given to China Overseas Port Holding Company from Pakistan's Port of Singapore Authority.

Hambantota Port was built with Chinese finance and is operated by state-run Sri Lanka Ports Authority.

China Merchant Holdings owns and operates a container terminal in Colombo Port.

The Speaker of the provincial assembly in Balochistan Mir Jan Muhammad Khan Jamali had led the delegation.

Gwadar which was at the mouth of the Persian Gulf is