ISLAMABAD, Oct 20: Chinese Assistant Minister of Commerce Chen Jian has assured the Pakistani authorities that Gwadar Port will be ready for operation by December 18 this year.

He was talking to Federal Minister for Ports and Shipping Babar Khan Ghauri here on Wednesday to discuss the progress of development work at Gwadar Port.

An official announcement said that the Chinese minister stressed the need of inculcating the importance of this port among the locals, and thanked him for beefing up the security of Chinese workers at Gwadar.

He hoped that on completion of the port, new avenues of business for locals would be opened. It would also serve as trade route for Central Asian Republics to the extent of serving significant strategic purposes.

The Chinese minister assured that he would do his best to undertake the work of Phase-II by Chinese. The port would soon be upgraded in order to facilitate the mother ships to embark easily, he added.

Mr Jian said Government of China had undertaken the phase I of the project at Gwadar Port to strengthen the ties between the two countries. This was why, the Chinese experts have been working day and night to complete the project as per schedule, he added.

Gwadar Port Development Authority Chairman Akbar Ali Pasnani informed the Chinese minister that a network of roads connecting the port with other parts of the country would surely bring tremendous growth in cargo.

Federal Minister Babar Ghauri thanked the delegation and said that some senior officials would be posted to look into the affairs, which were already going on. He said that security measures for Chinese at Gwadar had already been beefed up.

Mr Ghauri desired that Phase-II of the port would also be completed by Chinese so that more mother ships might embark on its berths.