CPEC Becomes Global Brand, World Taking Interest In It: Ahsan Iqbal

Minister for Planning Development and Reforms Ahsan Iqbal here on Wednesday said that China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) had become global brand as the entire world was showing great interest to join it

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 25th Apr, 2018 ) :Minister for Planning Development and Reforms Ahsan Iqbal here on Wednesday said that China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) had become global brand as the entire world was showing great interest to join it.

Addressing a seminar titled "Five Years of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a Story of Success and Opportunities", the minister said that the project was biggest success in the history of Pakistan and become center of global attention.

The event was organized by Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) in order to discuss the achievements and outcome of multi-billion development project and its impact on national economy as well as on soc-economic conduction.

He said that countries including European Union, USA, Central Asia, middle East and Korea had shown keen interest in CPEC and intended to join the project, adding that think tanks of many developed countries were also conducting research on the corridor project.

He said that CPEC was a great opportunity and there was a dire need to harness full potential of the projects for socio-economic prosperity of the entire region and world by through connectivity with better infrastructure development.

Ahsan Iqbal said that 21st century was the century of economic ideology and it was all about competitiveness, innovations and better quality and the actual spirit of the CPEC was shared prosperity and Chines leadership wanted to see Pakistan as an economically developed country.

The minister underlined the need for creating an enabling environment and full determination, peace, continuity of policies and reforms to get proper economic dividends of the project. He said that it was quit unfortunate that country was facing political instability from its existence and none of elected representatives were able to complete their tenure and that had created vacuum in the implementation of economic reforms agenda and policies.

The minister said that it was a defining moment for the country and urged the need for putting all the efforts together by pursuing the path of peace and stability.

Highlighting the economic impact of CPEC, he said that in 2013 Pakistan was ranked among the list of the most dangerous countries and no one was willing to make any investment here due to deteriorating law and order situation.

The economic growth was stagnant at 3 percent and people were facing 18-20 hours electricity outage and it was forecasted that the country was on the verge of civil war, he remarked. Under such circumstances, China came forward and proved its all-weather and time tested friendship and chalked out invest programme of US$ 47 billion, adding that it had given a new direction to national economy.

Under CPEC, mega electricity projects including solar, coal and wind were completed and producing surplus electricity and economic activity in Thar coal mines had also revolutionized the life of people living there.

Planning Minister said that the successes of CPEC was not digested by some elements and they were launching different controversies against the project to mislead the common man in the country and said that such elements would never be successful in their aims and objectives.

Addressing the event Chines Ambassador Yao jing said that five years of CPEC were years of construction and development and symbolize the bilateral friendship of both the countries for last seven decades.

He said it was a new demonstration of bilateral relations covering the socio-economic aspects, besides bilateral cooperation for the betterment of common man, adding that it was based on mutual respect, justice and ground realities.

In order to fully utilize the potential for mutual benefits, more than seven rounds of JCC were held to evolve a strategy, besides several meetings of joint working groups and expert level meetings had also taken place to create win-win situation for both the countries.

The Ambassador said that during last five years may success lessons of well being of common man of the whole region were learned and the efforts would continued for progress and development.