Staff Reporter
Islamabad
Prime Minister Imran Khan has said the government has set its eyes on the a“huge” Central Asian market as peace talks between the Taliban and Afghan negotiators began in Doha over the weekend after months of delays.
“Pakistan played a huge role [in bringing both parties to the negotiation table]… but if peace prevails, we would have a huge and peaceful market in Central Asia,” he said after Pakistan and China signed an agreement on the development of Rashakai Special Economic Zone under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.
The accord was inked between the two countries during a ceremony which took place at the Prime Minister House in Islamabad.
The premier said that the people of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, who often seek better employement opportunities in the Middle East and Karachi, would greatly benefit from the SEZ. “Now the people would get opportunities in their own province without leaving their family in search of a better life,” he added.
PM Imran said that Mainline-1 (ML-1) railway project was being constructed which would enable a person to reach from Karachi to Islamabad in eight hours whereas from Lahore to Islamabad in 2.5 hours. “This whole region is undergoing a huge change and K-P would benefit immensely from the changing situation,” he added. He said that Pakistan was rapidly getting industrialised in the 1960s but then we made huge mistakes and started to get reindustrialised, immensely halting the progress of the nation.
He further said that K-P suffered enormously due to the terrorism in the country. However, the province now was on the right track.
The agreement provides a roadmap for the establishment of SEZ while holding the federal and provincial governments and the developer jointly responsible for the development and successful operations of economic zone.
The Rashakai SEZ will be developed under a public-private partnership by the K-P Economic Zone Development and Management Company in collaboration with the China Road and Bridge Corporation.
