AS Pakistan and China are celebrating completion of ten years of the landmark initiative of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), there is consensus among all patriotic Pakistanis that the project has become a shining example of cooperative partnership and an icon of friendship between the two neighbours. It was in this background that in a statement on Wednesday to mark the occasion, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to take benefit of the mega project instead of creating hurdles in its implementation. He pointed out that the CPEC is a beautiful plan to connect not only regions and areas but also people’s hearts as it would benefit Iran, Afghanistan, the Middle East and the whole region.
The offer of the Pakistan Prime Minister comes on the heels of ill-intentioned remarks made by his Indian counterpart during his address to the SCO moot and becomes yet another proof of sincere desire of both Islamabad and Beijing to share benefits of economic development. The offer has the prospects of fostering peace in the region and accelerating the pace of progress and growth because of inter-dependencies. We hope the Indian leadership would shun its negative approach to the project and seriously consider the offer of the Prime Minister to become part of this plan that presents a unique opportunity to transform the entire region. These are not hollow slogans as Pakistan is already benefiting from dozens of projects completed during the last ten years and based on their experience, Pakistan and China are exploring more avenues to take the mutual cooperation to new heights. As pointed out by the Prime Minister, during the four years of the previous government, hurdles were created in the way of the project, besides levelling baseless allegations against a great friend like China. It is, however, encouraging that the incumbent Government promptly decided to revive all projects and there is a will to double the pace of development as it was not only for improving roads, rail, seaports and air routes, but would also help health, education and skill development areas. Apart from creating economic activities and employment opportunities, the CPEC would have a positive impact on the people’s living standards, especially in the erstwhile neglected and backward regions. There are also expectations that with the construction of nine Special Economic Zones (SEZs), the new technology would be transferred to Pakistan which would ultimately help increase local production. It is also a fact that there are still some hurdles in the way of smooth execution of different projects and initiation of work on new ones that need to be sorted out on a priority basis.
