Meeting Held To Discuss CPEC Projects After Ahsan Iqbal's Key Visit To China

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 10th Apr, 2023 ) :Pakistan and Chinese authorities on Monday held a 'progress review' meeting to discuss important CPEC projects and minutes of the 11th JCC sitting, following a crucial visit of Planning Minister Professor Ahsan Iqbal to Beijing and interaction with Vice Chairman of National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) Li Chunlin.

Chief Economist of Planning Division at the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) Secretariat Nadeem Javaid and his Chinese counterpart NDRC Director General Pan Jiang co-chaired the meeting, which was attended among others by senior officials from Ministries of Planning, Energy, Industry, Communication, Agriculture, Interior, Science & Technology, Information Technology & Telecommunication and board of Investment, a news release said here.

Both sides expressed satisfaction with the smooth implementation of various CPEC projects and agreed that all the pending issues would be resolved amicably in the spirit of traditional cooperation, mutual understanding, complete trust and brotherhood.

The two sides expressed satisfaction on the progress made in the four priority Special Economic Zones (SEZs) namely Rashakai, Allama Iqbal Industrial City, Dhabeji and Bostan, agreeing to 'further expedite' the progress to attract relocation of high-quality industries.

The signing of the Framework Agreement for Industrial Cooperation was highly appreciated and both sides committed to holding bi-annual meetings to review the implementation of the framework.

Chief Economist Nadeem Javaid also requested strong support from the NDRC and other relevant Chinese government institutions to advance the implementation of important projects like Main-Line (ML-1), Karachi Circular Railway (KCR) and key energy projects in line with the consensus reached between the leadership of the two countries.

As the year 2023 marks the Decade of CPEC and the strong partnership between Pakistan and China, both Pakistan and China are celebrating 10 Years of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and CPEC on July 5, 2023 whereby high-level Chinese delegations are scheduled to visit Pakistan to witness the achievements made since the inception of CPEC.

To make the 10 years' celebrations memorable, both sides expressed the desire to sign the minutes of the 11th Joint Cooperation Council (JCC) meeting before the end of April 2023 so that relevant Technical Joint Working Groups (JWGs) could hold their meetings by mid of May 2023 and workout the tangible outcomes for the 12th JCC Meeting; being planned to be held in the first week of July 2023 at Islamabad.