Pakistan, India May Cut Defence Budgets like US, Russia, Says Nawaz

摘要

Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif says Pakistan and India may also cut their defence budgets like the US and Russia to the collective betterment and prosperity of their people. "We (Pakistan and India) have been piling up weapons for the past 60 years; instead of spending so much on arms, we should focus on investing on social infrastructure for the benefit of our people," Sharif said. Terming the recently-announced Gwadar-Kashgar economic corridor a game changer, he said special industrial zones would be set up in Gwadar to facilitate foreign investment. Sharif said the development of this port and the proposed economic corridor would change the dynamics of the region and expressed the hope that the project would help boost economic activities in the region. He said Gwadar would emerge as the future economic hub of the region and would not only benefit Pakistan but also India, Afghanistan and the Central Asian states.