Xi's visit to Pakistan will boost Silk Road projects

Cooperative agreements will help to link western regions with port on Arabian Sea

President Xi Jinping is to start his first state visit to Pakistan on Monday, a long-awaited trip that is expected to yield multibillion-dollar cooperation agreements that mark a key step of the China-championed Silk Road initiatives.

Agreements, including those on energy and infrastructure cooperation, are expected to particularly bolster construction of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, a planned network connecting Kashgar in China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region to the southwestern Pakistani port of Gwadar on the Arabian Sea.