ISLAMABAD: Much awaited visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping that concluded on Tuesday forenoon created high hopes for the politico-economic prosperity of the people attached to the mega project of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) that would be instrumental in spreading the network of high quality roads and industrial zones all over the country.
The analysts and general public are rightly expecting network of roads after completion of $45 billion CPEC project in the coming years. The areas through which CPEC would pass, would naturally have added advantage but the benefits would trickle down to non-CPEC route areas as well when these would be linked to the Economic Corridor in the up country down to Gwadar port up to the port city Karachi.
China which always remained steadfast friend of Pakistan had shown its interest in Pakistan's mega projects and many smaller projects have already been initiated with its active technical and financial support, but formal agreements were signed between the two countries during the state visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping at the end of the third week of April.
The Road Initiative, as Chinese news agency Xinhua put it, would not only help China boost ties with countries and regions along the route, but would be a 'game changer' for Pakistan. It is a long-term initiative and should be rolled out step by step."
After the formal agreements between the two friendly countries, the economic prosperity is much in sight, a journalist told this scribe.
The Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road are international trade and infrastructure projects proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping when he visited Central Asia and Southeast Asia in September and October 2013.
The former is an overland network focused on bringing together China, Central Asia, Russia and Europe; linking China with the Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean Sea through Central Asia and West Asia, and connecting China with Southeast Asia, South Asia and the Indian Ocean.
The latter is a maritime network designed to link China's coast to Europe through the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean in one route, and China's coast to the South Pacific through the South China Sea in another.
During Chinese President Xi's two-day state visit to Pakistan, the China- Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a planned network of roads, railways and energy projects linking southwest Pakistan's deepwater Gwadar Port with northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, was high on agenda. After completion, the overall project would emerge as win win situation for both the countries- China and Pakistan.
The CPEC is situated at the crossroad of the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road.
The corridor starts from Kashgar, Xinjiang, and ends at the Gawadar, Qasim and Karachi ports in the south, where it will join the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road.
"The three Pakistan ports are the only intersection of both the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road." Amin Babar, Consul- General of Pakistan in Guangzhou, said.
The contracted projects under the framework of the CPEC were expected to reach 50 billion US dollars.
The first project of China's 40 billion dollar Silk Road Fund for investment in the Belt and Road initiative was unveiled on Monday during Xi's state visit to Pakistan.
The two countries set a target of lifting bilateral trade to 20 billion dollars in three years, up from the current 16 billion dollars.
More than 50 cooperation deals were signed, covering transportation infrastructure, energy, agriculture, trade, finance, health, local affairs, media, ocean sciences and education.
Both sides signed the CPEC framework agreement in June 2013 when Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif visited China.
Pakistan's pioneering role in this initiative is duly recognized by China and it would be direct beneficiary of the project and its offshoots.
Surely the speeding wheel of the economy would be instrumental in up-grading the national infrastructure and help mitigate the problems like energy crisis, unemployment and poverty that many economic experts link with prevalent security and law and order situation in different parts of the country.
Comments
Comments are closed.