THE visit to Pakistan of the Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng as special representative of President Xi Jinping was a resounding success as the two countries took practical measures to take the historic initiative of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) into the second phase for which an understanding already existed. The three-day visit was aimed at signalling China’s firm commitment to the cause of CPEC as the distinguished guest not only participated in the special event to mark 10 years of CPEC but the two sides signed six memoranda of understanding (MoUs) to kick-start the next phase of the mega project. The message that the Chinese President conveyed to Pakistan would surely winch up morale of the people of Pakistan as Xi Jinping vowed that no matter how the international landscape may change, his country will always stand firmly with Pakistan, adding they would build the CPEC into an exemplary project of high quality Belt and Road cooperation.
The success and achievements of the CPEC are not a fairy tale as Pakistan is benefiting from projects and programmes completed under Phase-I of the initiative. China injected 25 billion into Pakistan’s economy to help improve infrastructure, connectivity and take the country out of the vicious circle of load-shedding that was seen as one of the major impediments in the way of socio-economic growth. Beijing was more than willing to jack up the investment to the promised $65 billion and unhindered continuation of the project would have changed the entire landscape of Pakistan but unfortunately it was put on the back-burner after change of the government in Islamabad in 2018. The damage done by the previous regime was so colossal that it could not be repaired despite sincere efforts of the coalition government led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and the hard work done by Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Prof. Ahsan Iqbal, who actively interacted with the Chinese side to bolster trust and gain the lost momentum of the project. In this backdrop, the agreement of the two countries to revive the second phase of the CPEC, which emerged as a consequence of wide-ranging talks of the Chinese Vice Premier with Pakistani leadership, augurs well for resumption of full-spectrum cooperation under the auspices of the CPEC. It is encouraging that both China and Pakistan have decided to expedite the process of the multi-billion dollar ML-I railway project that is important for accelerating socio-economic development in Pakistan but has been facing delays for years. Another MoU, signed by the two sides, pertained to the establishment of an expert exchange mechanism between the Planning Ministry and the NDRC, within the framework of CPEC, aimed at facilitating knowledge-sharing between the two governments. The objective is to obtain intellectual support and consultation for China-Pakistan capacity-building cooperation and conduct in-depth exchanges of Chinese experts with the Pakistani government and enterprises. Similarly, the understanding to foster exchange programmes of the workforce associated with CPEC projects for skills development, technical training, language courses and Chinese experience sharing in special economic Zones (SEZs) development would go a long way in skill development of Pakistani manpower, enabling it to remain relevant in the era of fast-changing technology. It would enhance the competitiveness of the CPEC workforce to meet local industrial requirements and also support the requirements of skilled labour to attract Chinese industrial relocation envisaged through CPEC industrial cooperation. In fact, Phase-II of the CPEC seeks to expand cooperation to new areas, including rural revitalization, agricultural development, industrialization, green development and science and technology. As pointed out by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Pakistan and China are entering the second phase of CPEC now, which will feature B2B investment in agriculture and information technology to enable Pakistan to export its products according to the Chinese standards and requirements. This aspect assumes greater relevance and significance as Pakistan has launched another mega initiative to attract massive investment in agriculture and IT, especially from the Gulf countries. As both Pakistan and China are open to collaboration of third countries under the framework of the CPEC, this can justifiably be concluded that the initiative would not only promote investment, progress and prosperity in Pakistan but in the entire region and, therefore, conspiracies against this project must come to an end.
