Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, known as ‘Shehbaz Speed,’ aims to accelerate the implementation of all agreements and Memorandums of Understanding made during his recent five-day visit to China. The Pakistani delegation was accompanied by leading business groups from the country. Premier Shehbaz Sharif believes that Pakistan can achieve both microeconomic and macroeconomic targets by following the Chinese model of economic development. The Premier must focus on the energy and power sectors more than anything else. Electricity and gas tariffs are extremely high, making them unaffordable for both domestic and commercial consumers. If not addressed, the country will not be able to improve production and exports at all. High manufacturing costs squeeze the chances of winning interna-tional competitive markets. Phase II of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) includes steps to alleviate poverty, empower youth through vocational training, improve health facilities in under-developed areas and enhance the agriculture sector. These steps align with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s vision and will bring significant improvement to the lives of people in under-developed areas living below the poverty line.
The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is the reincarnation of the ancient Silk Road, albeit much larger in scope and mag-nitude. The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor is one of the multiple strands of this initiative which will connect over 60 countries. The Chinese vision for BRI revolves around voluntary participation and mutually beneficial trade, re-specting the UN Charter. Trade through economic corridors comprising land routes and sea-lanes has been rapidly multiplying in velocity and volume due to globalization. Velocity refers to the intensity and increase in the number of interactions, while volume relates to the density of goods being exchanged. The ancient Silk Road was one such corri-dor that connected China, Eurasia and the world through mutually beneficial trade and shared economic dividends, having social, cultural and religious impacts.
About 7,500 new jobs have been created, and this number is expected to climb to 1.2 million by 2030. When opera-tionalized, it will translate into the socio-economic uplift of the people, ushering in an era of comparative prosperity and better living standards. Many problems in society are due to poverty and illiteracy, and infrastructural develop-ment brings rapid development through better connectivity. The areas along the CPEC route have already started be-nefiting. Gwadar is developing at a better pace, with property prices in Gwadar increasing manifold.
The investments from China, Russia, Saudi Arabia and other countries, along with the presence of foreigners, are ex-pected to deter direct external threats as well. Enhanced economic dividends will also augment human security. When seen in conjunction with the Belt and Road Initiative, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor is not merely a trade corridor. It is likely to extend far beyond that, connecting Pakistan to Central Asia, South Asia, West Asia, the Middle East, Europe and North Africa. This interconnectivity will bestow economic, socio-cultural, anthropological and edu-cational advantages on Pakistan, all partner countries and the regions. The law and order situation is also related to the socio-economic condition of the masses. Improvements in socio-economic conditions are likely to have a positive impact on overall governance in Pakistan. Similarly, more jobs and better education, while alleviating poverty and enhancing knowledge and education, will reduce the availability of exploitable human resources to extremists and criminals. This will help the country achieve internal stabilization.
The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor offers a great chance to make the best use of our youth bulge, currently esti-mated to be about 60% of the population, by providing better opportunities for higher education and vocational train-ing. The Higher Education Commission of Pakistan and China have already operationalized a collaborative mecha-nism. China is expected to provide 21,000 scholarships to Pakistan over the next three years. In due course, the part-ner countries will become part of a trade bloc comprising over 60 countries with a population of three billion and in-tertwined destinies. It will gradually evolve into a mutually beneficial trade bloc with significant political influence in the international arena. Another default advantage could be cooperation among member countries on issues like coun-tering growing extremism, drug trafficking, and gun running.
The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor can be turned into a useful foreign policy instrument to improve relations with Iran, Afghanistan, and India by providing them with land access for trade. It could help convince Afghanistan to be-come a China-Pakistan Economic Corridor partner and establish better Pakistan-China-Afghanistan trilateral relation-ships. Intertwined economic stakes and confluence of counter-terrorism and anti-narcotics objectives could further augment these ties. The prospects of shared economic dividends can also act as enablers to improve bilateral and mul-tilateral cooperation to mitigate prevalent differences and contentious issues.
The short, mid, and long-term plans made for the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor by Pakistan and China must be strongly supported by governmental and non-governmental institutions to forestall bureaucratic hurdles, procedural interruptions, and internal or external opposition to rectify unnecessary delays and ensure desired progress. An appro-priate mechanism needs to be established and operationalized to ensure this. For every country, political stability is a prerequisite for economic development and stability.
—The writer is author of several books based in Islamabad.
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