On the occasion of Chinese Vice Foreign Minister visit to Pakistan, the renewed commitment to the completion of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor project is expected to speed up the pace of work on the ongoing delayed projects under the project.

In the meetings held by the Chinese Vice Foreign Minister with the President, Caretaker Prime Minister, Army Chief and Foreign Minister, the parties expressed their determination to increase cooperation in the fields of information technology, economy, agriculture and human resource development. Pakistan's political and military leadership made it clear that Pakistan highly values its all-weather, strategic and cooperative partnership with China. According to the agreement reached during the previous regime of Muslim League (N), under CPEC, 17045 MW of electricity generation in Pakistan, modernization of railway and road infrastructure across the country, new optical fiber connection, improvement of Gwadar and other ports and trade as well as four urban mass transit schemes were planned to be completed in major cities and these projects were to be completed by 2030. Of these, 27 projects with an investment of 19 billion dollars have been completed so far, while 63 projects worth more than 35 billion dollars are still pending. Eleven of the projects to be completed are related to the energy sector and seven are related to infrastructure development. Apart from three Gwadar port projects, six welfare projects have also been completed. The importance of CPEC in our economic development is very clear from this detail, so at least now it should be ensured that no CPEC project gets delayed and its full benefits reach the common man. will be transferred because the prosperity of the people is the real measure of national development.

 Meanwhile, the  speculations on Afghanistan’s inclusion in CPEC are also ripe. As a matter of fact, in Afghanistan's bilateral trade with Pakistan, it is not possible to deny formal and undocumented trade. The reason for this is the centuries-old relations between the two countries, the relations between the communities and the level of religion and culture, and especially the easy transaction of food needs. It could not be proved, but the two countries must depend on each other to a great extent. This statement of the Pakistani ambassador posted in the media is very important, in which both countries have included Afghanistan as a third party in the bilateral CPEC project. Unfortunately, there is a negative trend going on in the country. That the projects started by one government have been canceled or changed by the next ruler, this has given a serious blow to many mega programs. And such practice should be done away with. Any project that is beneficial for the country should be continued by the next government as well. At this time, the country needs foreign investment in various sectors including energy. Pakistan certainly lacks capital but has other resources and millions of employment opportunities. Geographically, in the region in which the country is located, the interest of neighboring countries can have far-reaching consequences and help to solidify this program, which is auspicious to be multilateral as well as multilateral.

It will also help in resolving political and other differences. There are vast investment opportunities in Pakistan which can be utilized to change the destiny of this country and nation suffering from economic crisis. China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is the biggest project in this regard. This grand project of investment of billions of dollars started in 2013, ten years of which have been completed. Not only Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan, Central Asia and the Middle East will get its fruits, but due to hatred of China, some forces, especially India, started blocking it from the very first day, due to which this project delayed. There was a delay in the delivery. The previous coalition government in Pakistan removed the local obstacles after coming to power and now there are signs of doubling the speed of its implementation.

This is not just an improvement in road, rail, sea and air routes, but a wonderful plan to participate in health, education, skills and development process and to raise the standard of living of the people in the region and lift them out of poverty and live in peace. This will increase industrial and agricultural cooperation and productivity in the region and beyond. Along with CPEC, Pakistan is also eager to undertake many other initiatives to promote foreign investment and the Pakistan Army is also on the same page with the government in this regard.  The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is a grand project of friendship and economic development between the two countries, the likes of which cannot be found anywhere else in the world. In fact, this project can take the friendship to next level as it is a game-changer project, which is basically revolving around the regional connectivity and infrastructure development. Last year, ten years of this project were completed, to celebrate which special events were organized in both the countries. Chinese leadership and scholars invited to the events in Pakistan while Pakistani delegations went to China.

In these ten years, many development projects have been completed in various sectors of Pakistan's economy with Chinese investment and many are under completion. In the next phase, there is a plan to lay a railway line from Gwadar to Kashgar, apart from this, work is also underway on the target of completing Karachi Circular Railway, energy, agriculture, science and technology, IT and many other infrastructure projects. Gwadar, which was once a small fishing village, has now become a major port of international importance, opening sea routes between Pakistan and the outside world beyond Karachi. After the completion of the first phase of the Free Trade Zone in Gwadar, the second phase is under construction. This will help control  the current economic crisis in Pakistan to some extent. Financial experts say that new employment opportunities will be created due to which the youth can be employed and a new era of development and prosperity will usher in, which is need of the hour. However, our arch-rival India wants to sabotage this project and for this it funds the separatists and anti-state elements in the country, particularly the Baluchistan province. In order to stop this project, India with the help of the anti-state elements made a strong push. Apart from external factors, some internal elements also put obstacles but all their efforts failed and now the situation is that almost all the countries of the region and some countries of the outside world are eager to be a part of it.

Published in The Daily National Courier, January, 26 2024

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