Staff Reporter
Islamabad
Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar Friday said that the pace of projects under China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) would be accelerated in weeks and months to come.
He was talking to Ambassador of China to Pakistan Yao Jing here on Friday.
Matters relating to CPEC and economic cooperation between the two countries in general, came under discussion.
The Minister expressed his satisfaction at the progress of various projects under CPEC. He said that the establishment and operationalization of Special Economic Zones (SEZs) is currently the top priority. The SEZ would enable setting up of joint ventures in manufacturing which would integrate the enterprises from both sides.
Asad Umar emphasized that it was important for Pakistani manufacturing industries to become part of the global value chain by partnering with the Chinese companies. The Ambassador assured the minister that the Chinese side was keen to promote such relationships between businesses and manufacturing industries.
Collaboration in the agriculture sector was also discussed. The minister said that massive potential exists in agriculture sector by modernizing and upgrading its various sub-sectors. He underlined the need to expand collaboration in agriculture sector, which is extremely important for the Pakistani economy.
Yao Jing expressed the hope that bilateral partnership between the two countries would be taken to new heights in future.
The Ambassador appreciated the government of Pakistan’s efforts to expedite the work on CPEC projects.
Meanwhile, Ambassador Yao Jing, while addressing roundtable conference titled “Searching for Economic Security and Growth” organized by Institute of Policy Reforms (IPR) at COMSTECH, said China and Pakistan have started establishing joint ventures under China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) framework of industrial cooperation to boost exports.
“Our focus is now developing four special economic zones (SEZs), and it requires time to place state-of-the-art infrastructure to attract investment. The CPEC is regional project where companies from other countries can also invest,” Ambassador Yao said.
The Ambassador said that the CPEC was purely a commercial project, and there would be three new areas of future cooperation under the second phase of CPEC. In fact, 11 joint ventures have already been established in the SEZ at Faisalabad for the purpose of boosting exports. He added that there were 25 projects underway through CPEC mechanism and most of them would be completed in first half of the current year.
