By Ayesha Mudassar ISLAMABAD, Nov 09 (INP-WealthPK): The Karakoram Highway (KKH) is the world’s highest road, connecting the Kashgar region of China with Islamabad. This mammoth Pak-China joint venture not only serves as a link connecting the two countries but has also opens a world for bilateral communities. It is worth noting that the expansion and upgradation of KKH is currently underway under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). KKH has opened up an unexpected access for locals, facilitated the communication between villages, and provided them with an opportunity to represent the conventional life of Pakistan. With the construction of KKH, the geographic isolation of northern areas has come to an end and remote villages have observed a rapid transition in their socio-cultural system along with the arrival of modern communications. The highway, also known as China-Pakistan Friendship Highway, extends for over 1,200 kilometres, passing through Haripur, Abbottabad, Manshera, Bisham, Dasu, Chilas, Jaglot, Gilgit, Hunza, Nagar, Sost, Khunjerab Pass and ends in the Kashgar region of China. KKH also provides the remote areas with economic incentives such as tourism, wider markets for domestic goods, and expanded employment opportunities. Tourists can interact with the local communities and witness their traditions and customs. The road has facilitated NGOs to run programmes for the rural development of the newly-accessible terrains, which has proven beneficial for the locals, especially for girls and women. Educational institutes have provided these villages with greater access to education. Health services in the region have also witnessed continual improvement. KKH also provides the cyclists and mountaineers with easier access to glaciers, lakes, and many high peaks in the region. The opening-up of regions in towering mountains has proved as a means of promoting people-to-people contact between China and Pakistan. This interaction has also resulted in business and trade activities as well as cultural exchange between the two countries. Ease of travel by Pakistani traders to Xinjiang and other Chinese provinces has helped growing business relationship with the Chinese communities. The Sost dry port, which was built after the KKH construction, is acting as an intermediary of trade activity between the two countries. Thanks to KKH, the two sides have signed an agreement for establishing a dry port in Havalian area of Haripur, which is located along the artery. KKH lies at the junction of Pakistan, China, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and India. At the regional level, Pakistan has attained significance as a potential energy corridor and the most secure and shortest connecting route between the landlocked Arabian Sea, Indian Ocean, and the hydrocarbon-rich Central Asian Republics (CARs). Pakistan can have access to the markets of CARs for its goods, and likewise, CARs can get access to agricultural products and sectors of information technology and telecommunication. KKH not only provides China with greater economic influence in the west and Central Asia but also facilitates it with a route towards the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean. Being a shorter route from Tajikistan, it helps maintain China’s energy security and helps Tajikistan link Pakistani ports. A quadrilateral trade agreement between China, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Pakistan that came into effect in 2004 was viewed as a way to strengthen regional trade by using the Highway for exchanging commodities and boosting people-to-people contact through tourism. KKH is considered the eighth wonder of the world due to its high altitude. The highway spreads through some of the roughest and inaccessible territories of Asia, deep and isolated valleys, and towering peaks of Kunlun and the Karakoram mountain range. KKH also provides a route for expeditions to nearly all peaks in Gilgit-Baltistan, Kashmir, and various peaks in Xinjiang, China