GILGIT: The Pakistan and China border at Khunjerab Pass opened on Tuesday to allow over two dozen Pakistani containers to cross over between December 15-25, state media reported, though traders are skeptical the ten-day respite will be enough to overcome losses.
At 5,000 meters above sea level, the border post is the highest paved international crossing in the world, a major trade route between China and Pakistan, and an important gateway to South Asia and Europe. China mainly imports textiles, agricultural products and daily commodities through the pass, and exports plants and herbs.
The border outpost on the Karakoram Highway usually remains open for trade and travel from May till November-end every year, after which it closes for almost five months in winter. But Pakistani containers have now been stranded in China since December 2019, when the border closed for the winter months, following which all frontiers, including Khunjerab, were indefinitely closed to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus.
“Pak-China border via Khunjerab Pass was opened on Tuesday for next ten days,” Radia Pakistan reported.
Zulqarnain Sewag, Assistant Commissioner Gojal of Hunza district, told Arab News the district administration had finalized security arrangements and preparations to receive the stranded containers over a ten-day period.
“Only loaded and stranded containers of traders and containers carrying hydro-power machinery of a power house of Hunza district will enter into Pakistan during these 10 days,” he said. “No container will go to China from Pakistan,” he added, saying all COVID-19 standard operating procedures would be strictly observed during the trade.
A December 10 notification issued by the foreign ministry and seen by Arab News said: “Chinese side has conveyed that they are considering opening the border from 15-25 December 2020. However, the border will be opened subject to the strict implementation of Covid-19 SOP’s.”
With the construction of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) – a multi-billion-dollar project of which Gilgit-Baltistan is the entry point — Pakistan’s trade volumes through Khunjerab surged last year, but have remained static in 2020 due to the border’s yearlong closure.
China News Network reported in December 2019 that cargo import and export had reached 66,600 tons during 2019 at Khunjerab Pass in northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, up 46.8 percent from the year before. Trade volumes increased by 1.4 times, and reached values upwards of $856 million during the same period.
But 2020 brought trade at the high border crossing to a near halt, and with winter temperatures dropping at that altitude, the movement of vehicles also became an added challenge.
“Businessmen related to Khunjerab Pass had to face huge losses due to closure of the border as many loaded containers have been stranded in China since December 2019,” Mehboob Rabbani, President of the Hunza Chamber of Commerce, told Arab News on Saturday. “We requested Pakistan’s higher authorities to open the border to provide relief to businessmen; however, they [both countries’ officials] took a huge time to make a decision.”
“Now the temperature at the border has dropped to minus 25 degrees [Celsius] and if the snowfall surges at the top, it could upset business activities during the ten days,” he added.
Traders have said hundreds of millions in losses have already been accrued.
“Since the pass closed, we are facing losses in business,” Hajji Abbas, a Nagar-based businessman who deals in the import and exports of dry fruit, told Arab News on Sunday. “I purchased dry fruits, including walnuts and almonds from China last year to bring into Pakistan. But they’ve been lying in different warehouses in China’s Kashgar. Now fresh fruits have also come into the market, so no one will buy old dry fruit.”
“We have faced losses of over Rs300 million till now,” Abbas said of his industry.
Some stakeholders and experts said the temporary opening of the border for ten days was not enough time to fix the problem, and commodities belonging to Pakistani traders worth billions of rupees were lying in China’s warehouses.
“Chinese authorities are not allowing to evacuate the warehouses of Pakistani traders,” Muhammad Ali Quaid, Federation of Pakistan Chamber of Commerce Vice President, told Arab News on Saturday. “They are allowing only [already] loaded containers to cross the border during these 10 days.”
Additionally, he said Chinese transporters charged roughly the equivalent of $3,800 on regular days but with the border opening for only a short period of time, they had hiked up their rates to between $7000 to $15,000 per container.
“I had 13 loaded containers carrying garments and dry fruits from China last year. As lockdown started in China after COVID-19, only two of my containers reached Pakistan,” Shabbir Hussain, a Hunza-based businessman who owns an import-export business for garments and dry fruit, told Arab News on Sunday.
“I had to unload the containers to avoid fare charges, but unfortunately, owing to the long-time closure of the border, lots of dry fruits and red chillies decayed in warehouses.”
“Only loaded containers are allowed to cross the border in these 10 days,” Hussain added, saying the temporary opening of the pass for ten days was too short a time period to maximize benefits.
