IT is heartening to note that the flagship project of the historic vision of the Chinese President, Xi Jinping about shared prosperity — China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) remained in the limelight during deliberations of the Third Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) Forum in Beijing, where Prime Minister Anwar-ul-Haq Kakar represented Pakistan. It was cited as a great achievement by not only the leadership of China and Pakistan but also attracted attention of other delegates, who showed keen interest to become part of the Chinese endeavour to connect the entire globe in a strong network of roads and economic linkages.
As was widely expected, the Forum provided a platform for discussions, agreements and partnerships, further strengthening global connectivity and fostering international economic cooperation. The most important consensus reached at this forum was to open a new stage of high-quality Belt and Road cooperation which is bound to create even more new opportunities for the global economy and become a boon for the global landscape. The success of the Third Forum can be gauged by the fact that a total of 458 outcomes were achieved, far more than the second BRF. It was because of the successful experience of the last ten years that while addressing a galaxy of heads of State and Government and representatives of international organizations, the Chinese President underlined that the BRI pursues development, promotes win-win outcomes and inspires hopes. Other leaders attending the Forum also concurred with him as they believed the Chinese-sponsored initiative has effectively promoted the progress of our planet, said foreign leaders and experts, vowing to deepen Belt and Road cooperation to achieve higher-quality and higher-level common development in the next “golden decade.” Russian President Vladimir Putin said the BRI has achieved great success and has become an important international public good widely recognized by the world, expressing his confidence in greater achievements of this great cause. Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev announced that his country plans to build 1,300 km of new railways in the next three years in synergy with the Belt and Road Initiative. Throwing his full weight behind the vision of the Chinese President, his Indonesian counterpart Joko Widodo also called on all partner countries to collectively make the BRI stronger and more impactful. Argentina vowed to work with China to support multilateralism and strengthen communication and coordination within the frameworks of the G20 and BRICS cooperation mechanism. And in an important development, Pakistan and China agreed to expand the scope of the multibillion-dollar CPEC infrastructure project which will now diversify to areas like industrial development, ICT, livelihood projects, mining and mineral exploration and agriculture. Presently, the corridor is confined to road and rail connectivity, energy sector and economic zones. The two countries signed several memorandums of understanding (MoUs) and agreements in the areas of commerce, communication and transport, including the Main Line-1 (ML-1) rail agreement, food security and research, media exchanges, space cooperation, urban sustainable development, capacity building, mineral development, industrial cooperation, climate change and vaccine development. The ML-I project is expected to help transform Pakistan’s entire transportation network, propelling Pakistan Railways’ market share from 4pc to 20pc and create 20,000 jobs for technical experts. The United Energy Group of China and Pakistan Refinery Ltd signed an MoU for a $1.5 billion investment to boost the refinery’s production capacity. The agreement will help increase the PRL’s petrol production capacity from 250,000 tonnes to 1.6 million tonnes and high-speed diesel from 600,000 tonnes to 2m tonnes. As Pakistan has already benefited hugely from the CPEC, Prime Minister Kakar highlighted Pakistan’s active partnership in the BRI and proudly proclaimed full support for it. He further reflected on the monumental impact of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), operationalized during President Xi’s visit in 2015, which had seen the completion of nearly 50 projects worth $25 billion. Kakar also unveiled the next phase of CPEC, where it would be transformed into a corridor of growth, linking economies, creating opportunities and offering access to global markets. The commitment of the two countries to pursue the CPEC to new heights was evident from the fact that they are determined to collaborate in the fields of IT, science and technology to advance cooperation and improve the lives of their people. We are sure that CPEC is poised to become a role model for bilateral cooperation for progress and prosperity.
