BEIJING: Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Ahsan Iqbal said on Thursday that Pakistan and China are fully committed to moving forward with the second phase of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and the new government through its engagements with the Chinese leadership at senior level is trying to define and crystallize its parameters.
This is our first engagement after the election in Pakistan with Chinese leadership at the senior level. Through this engagement, we are trying to define and crystallize the parameters of CPEC on which the Chinese side has indicated its willingness to move forward, he said in his interaction with Chinese media at the Pakistan Embassy, in Beijing during his three-day visit to China, adding that Pakistan is also very committed to moving forward.
Ahsan Iqbal said that during his meetings, both sides discussed some high-priority and low-hanging projects which can be immediately initiated to give a jumpstart to the second phase of CPEC and broaden the cooperation from phase one to the next.
He said that agriculture, transfer of technology, and industrial cooperation are very important for both countries. Both sides wanted to expand cooperation to bring new technology into the agriculture sector to enhance the productivity of Pakistan’s agriculture sector.
Pakistan-China Industrial Cooperation
Second, Pakistan intended to enhance industrial cooperation. Particularly, there is a strong case for relocation of Chinese industries to Pakistan, where labor costs in China have gone up and Pakistan offers a very attractive environment for relocation to the SEZs that we are setting up. It also helps Pakistan to move from an agricultural economy to an industrial economy.
The minister said that one of the key and future targets for the government is to take Pakistan from an agricultural economy to an industrial economy as fast as possible. In this industrialization, the government wanted to focus on exports and how to have export-led growth in Pakistan.
