ISLAMABAD: Pakistan dispatched its first convoy of commercial goods from its southern port city of Karachi to Central Asia through the partnership between the state-owned National Logistics Corporation (NLC) and UAE-based DP World firm, state media reported on Wednesday. 
The development takes place days after Pakistan and DP World finalized terms for a freight corridor project from Karachi Port to the Pipri Marshalling yard in southern Pakistan. 
The Karachi Freight Corridor is an infrastructure project in Pakistan aimed at improving the movement of freight from Karachi, the country’s largest city, to various parts of the country. The project involves the construction of a dedicated double-track corridor and other related facilities that will run 50 km from Karachi port to the Pipri marshalling yard.
“The first convoy carrying commercial goods has been dispatched from Karachi to Central Asia through the partnership between NLC and DP World,” state broadcaster Radio Pakistan reported. 
It added that senior officials from DP World and NLC, as well as prominent business figures attended the launch event. 
Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, DP World’s group chairman and CEO, said the strategic position of NLC in the region and DP World’s global presence will provide vast business opportunities and strengthen economic activities.
“The Director-General of NLC said this initiative will have far-reaching effects on regional trade and will be immensely beneficial for the business community of the region,” state media reported. 
Pakistan has reached out to regional allies, especially Gulf countries, to bolster trade and foreign investment in recent months. Pakistan and the UAE last year signed two inter-governmental framework agreements to establish a dedicated rail freight corridor and economic zone near Karachi.
The agreements cover plans for over $3 billion investments in railways, economic zones and infrastructure. DP World will act on behalf of Dubai, while the Pakistan Railways and Port Qasim Authority will act on behalf of Pakistan.

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s Mining Minister Bandar Alkhorayef told Reuters on Wednesday that mining company Manara Minerals was looking at investing in Pakistan’s Reko Diq mine, saying that the Saudi Development Fund could contribute over $100 million to Pakistan’s mining infrastructure.
Executives from Manara visited Pakistan in May last year for talks about buying a stake in the Reko Diq mine, considered one of the world’s largest underdeveloped copper-gold areas by global mining company Barrick Gold, which owns the project jointly with Pakistan. 
Manara, a joint venture between state-controlled miner Ma’aden and the $925 billion Public Investment Fund (PIF), was set up as part of the kingdom’s efforts to diversify its economy away from oil, including by buying minority stakes in assets overseas.
“Part of what we are looking at is how we can help Pakistan also in some infrastructure,” Alkhorayef said in an interview on the sidelines of the Future Minerals Forum in Riyadh.
“Without that infrastructure the economics of the deal are not attractive, so through the Saudi Development Fund we are thinking about how we can finance it.”
He also spoke about Saudi Arabian state oil giant Aramco’s project to extract lithium, saying it is “promising, but not yet commercially viable.” 
Aramco has partnered with the King Abdullah University for Science and Technology (KAUST) for the pilot, Bandar Alkhorayef said. 
Lithium Infinity, also known as Lihytech, a start-up launched out of KAUST, is leading the extraction project with cooperation from Saudi mining company Ma’aden and Aramco.
Lithium is a key component in the batteries of electric cars, laptops, and smartphones. Reuters previously reported that Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates’ national oil companies planned to extract the mineral from oil runoffs.