Le premier conteneur chargé lors de l'inauguration en grande pompe du nouveau corridor commercial reliant le port pakistanais de Gwadar et la ville chinoise de Kashgar, à Gwadar, le 13 novembre 2016.

REUTERS/Caren Firouz

Pour la première fois, une cargaison de 150 conteneurs venus de Chine a été embarquée dimanche 13 novembre à bord d'un navire au port de Gwadar au Pakistan. C'était l'inauguration du corridor économique sino-pakistanais, un vaste projet évalué à 46 milliards de dollars.

Le corridor économique entre la Chine et le Pakistan s'étend de la ville de Kashgar, au Xinjiang, jusqu'au port de Gwadar ouvrant sur le golfe Persique et le détroit d’Ormuz.

Long de 2 000 kms, empruntant l'une des branches de l'antique route de la soie, il permet à la Chine de réduire de 10 000 km le transport de ses exportations de marchandises vers le Moyen-Orient. Il rend également la Chine moins dépendante des routes maritimes passant par le détroit de Malacca pour ses importations de pétrole du Moyen-Orient.

Pour le Pakistan, ce projet de liaisons routières, ferroviaires, oléoducs et réseaux de communications constitue un apport massif d'investissements chinois jusqu’en 2031 que d'aucuns ont comparé à un plan Marshall.

Mais le port de Gwadar se situe au Baloutchistan, la plus vaste et la plus pauvre des provinces pakistanaises, et elle est régulièrement agitée par des violences séparatistes ou islamistes. Tel l'attentat-suicide qui a eu lieu samedi dans un sanctuaire soufi. Les autorités pakistanaises se sont engagées à mettre en place les forces de sécurité nécessaires.

Gwadar, Pakistan: Pakistan's prime minister and army chief welcomed on Sunday the first large shipment of Chinese goods through the renovated port of Gwadar, part of a trade link between western China and the Arabian Sea.

The deep-water port in Pakistan's southwestern province of Baluchistan is key to the $US46 billion China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) that also encompasses roads and energy projects.

A Pakistan Navy ship berth at Gwadar port. Photo: AP

"Pakistan is located at the intersection of three engines of growth in Asia - South Asia, China and Central Asia," Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said at a ceremony on Sunday.

"CPEC will help in integrating these regions into an economic zone offering great opportunities for people of the region as well as investors from all over the world."

A Pakistan Navy soldier stands guard while a loaded Chinese ship prepares to depart from Gwadar port. Photo: AP

Army chief General Raheel Sharif also attended Sunday's ceremony at the port, which is expected mostly to see imports of building materials in the next year before eventually becoming a gateway for goods from western China's Xinjiang province.

The port ceremony came a day after a bomb in another part of Baluchistan killed at least 52 people at a Muslim shrine in an attack claimed by Islamic State.

Baluchistan is home to an ethnic nationalist insurgency as well as operations by sectarian militants including Lashkar-e-Jangvi, which has previously said it partners with Islamic State's Middle East-based leadership.

Pakistan has raised a dedicated security force to protect CPEC projects. The prime minister on Sunday vowed that attacks would not derail any of the work, while expressing condolences to victims of the shrine attack.

Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, centre left, and Army Chief General Raheel Sharif, third from right, pray after inaugurating a new international trade route during a ceremony at Gwadar port. Photo: AP

"Our hearts are saddened and thoughts are with the innocent victims' families," he said.

"But at the same time, "I want to re-emphasise that such cowardly attacks cannot weaken our resolve to eliminate the menace of extremism and terrorism from our country in all forms." 

Reuters