ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, May 24 (UPI) -- Pakistan and China have agreed to strengthen ties by launching the first bus services between the two countries in the middle of June.
After two days of talks between top Pakistani and Chinese officials in Islamabad, the agreement was signed Tuesday.
The first bus services between Pakistan and China will run daily from Gilgit, in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir, to Kasghar, in China's northwestern Xinjiang region. Another route, between Sust and Tashurgan in the same regions, will run three times a week, reported the Press Trust of India.
Pakistan's minister for communications said the new service would benefit both countries by strengthening their trade links.
China has agreed to invest $350 million in the rehabilitation of Karakuram Highway, which will function as an access route for exporters from western China.
The highway runs from Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, north through the Karakuram range into China to the city of Kasghar. The new bus service will run on this highway.
