ISLAMABAD: Minister for Planning, Development and Reforms and Interior, Ahsan Iqbal has said that after embarking upon grand project of China Pakistan Economic Corrdior (CPEC), the long standing strategic and political ties between two countries had been turned into true economic relationship as within a short period of three years, China had become number 1 country in term of Foreign Direct Investment in Pakistan.
“Pakistan and China have been enjoying close and strong relationships for long time but prior to CPEC, our partnership on economic front was nowhere,” Ahsan Iqbal said while addressing at an event hosted by Ministry of Planning to celebrate Chinese New Year and to mark fiver years of CPEC here.
He said benefits of CPEC were not limited to the two countries but its benefits would go beyond the regions.
The fruits of CPEC, he said were ripening now as with the completion of road projects under the Corridor, people of Pakistan specially those belonging to far flung areas were being connected to the big cities, resulting in reducing the poverty level in the country.
Ahsan Iqbal observed that huge natural resources of Thar coal remained unexploited for last seven decades, however thanks to CPEC, work on Thar coal mining and power project were under process and the project would start power production of 5000 MW from next year.
He said work on energy, infrastructure, and industrial zones projects was in process on fast track and hoped that in near future Pakistan would become an industrial hub after completion of long term projects under CPEC.
The minister said the mega project of CPEC was not only reshaping Pakistan’s infrastructure and making it economically strong country but it was also providing China, an opportunity to make its dream of great belt and road initiative true by using this platform.
He said political stability was vital to achieve sustainable development goals. He sighted an example that China was fully focused on political stability in order to achieve the economic goals while Russia lagged far behind due to instability in the country.
He said Pakistan was in a take off mode now, however he said political stability was a must to ensure smooth and sustainable flow of economic development of the country.
Meanwhile, Ambassador of China to Pakistan, Yao Jing said that CPEC was a project of two nations with shared destiny.
He informed that at present six major projects under CEPC had been completed while 14 were under process. Moreover he said that 20 more projects were in the pipeline and these would be materialized soon.
The event was also attended by Deputy Chairman Planning Commission, Secretary Planning Shoaib Ahmed Siddiqui, CPEC project Director Hassan Daud, Deputy Director Shaukat Khattak, and a large number of Chinese diplomats and businessmen.
