ISLAMABAD: In a meeting with National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, Egyptian Ambassador to Pa­k­i­stan Sherif Shaheen has expressed his country’s des­ire to join the China-Pakis­tan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

According to a press release on Sunday, the Egy­ptian envoy called on the speaker at the Parliament House on Thursday.

Talking to the media after the meeting, Mr Sadiq said that Egypt’s participation in CPEC would assign substantive meanings to the “transcontinental game-changer” project by connecting the economic corridor to Africa, Europe and the Middle East.

The speaker remarked that Egypt’s proposal to join CPEC was akin to Allama Iqbal’s allusion to integration “from the shores of Nile to the soil of Kashgar”, albeit in a different context.

Welcoming Egypt’s proposal to join CPEC, the speaker said it would open a new channel of unhindered flow of trade between Africa and China.

Published in Dawn February 6th, 2017