LAHORE: Pakistan-China Joint Chambers of Commerce and Industry (PCJCCI) has urged the government to take a lead in developing “Digital Silk Road” for having maximum benefits out of the economic corridor to be constructed by China in the Asia-Pacific region.
PCJCCI President Nazir Hussain stated this during a think tank session held here at PCJCCI Secretariat. He said the roads and railways are easy enough to build, but it is hard to cultivate mental harmony among people that holds more importance in regional connectivity. Information has become a core resource and is crucial to international cooperation. “The next leap for regional connectivity is to create Asia-Pacific Information Superhighway,” he said.
Infrastructure development is progressing steadily for the China proposed Belt and Road Initiative, but parallel with a communication and infrastructure network connecting Asia, Europe, and Africa, there is dire need of breaking the barriers of information among the connecting nations, he added.
Nazir Hussain hoped that such initiatives would emerge Pakistan as a leader of the region. He assured of his full cooperation on behalf of the PCJCCI in this move, which would also have the full support of all Chinese companies operating in Pakistan.Pakistan’s cuisine
PCJCCI Senior Vice President Brig. (retd) Mansoor Saeed Sheikh said that people-to-people bond provides the public support for implementing the strategic initiatives. “We should carry forward the spirit of friendly cooperation of the Silk Road by promoting extensive cultural and academic exchanges, personnel exchanges and cooperation among media, youth and volunteers so as to win public support for deepening bilateral and multilateral harmony,” he mentioned.
Zafar Iqbal, Vice President PCJCCI, proposed to develop a concrete agenda to initiate an effective communication process among the states being connected through Pak-China economic belt as well as the Silk Road. The agenda should especially include friendly exchanges of the respective legislative bodies and political parties.
The joint chamber’s Secretary General Salahuddin Hanif said that the Belt and Road initiative aimed at creating a world in which, economically, everyone’s path ends at the door of China. But it’s not a path that people are unwilling to walk. It’s not a political domination; it’s more like a stressing of mutual benefits. He expressed confidence that present government of Pakistan was quite capable of taking successful initiatives in this regard.
