Pakistan, China need to strengthen cooperation in areas beyond CPEC, says envoy

• China's Ambassador says our enemy does not want to see our cooperation on China Pakistan Economic Corridor or cooperation in other area.
• A number of Chinese agriculture companies are coming to Pakistan to purchase more value added agriculture products, the envoy informed.

Maintaining that China and Pakistan face a number of challenges in 2020, China's Ambassador to Pakistan Yao Jing said the two countries need to negate common enemy's propaganda by further strengthening mutual cooperation in areas beyond CPEC, including defense and international affairs.

“In the year 2020, we still face with a lot of challenges, these challenges are not from Pakistan or China, these challenges are from the common enemy who don’t want to see an amicable and friendly relations between the two countries,” said Jing, while talking to media.

“Our enemy does not want to see our cooperation on China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) or cooperation in other areas to enhance our capability of maintaining and safeguarding our sovereignty, to develop our economy and our capability of maintaining peace and stability in the region,” the Chinese envoy added.

The envoy said that the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project has entered its second stage where social, industrial and agriculture sectors would be the areas of special focus.

He said that China and Pakistan had constituted a joint committee to explore financing modalities and find appropriate financial package for the mega Main Line (ML-1) railway project.

The envoy said that due to huge financial implication, the project was facing little delays however it would not further slow down as the committee would soon finalize appropriate financial package to fund the project.

The ML-1 project is part of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) under which, the 1,872 kilometers railway track from Peshawar to Karachi would be upgraded at an estimated cost of around US $9 billion.

He said a number of Chinese agriculture companies are coming to Pakistan to purchase more value added agriculture products.

He said China has always supported Pakistan's stance on Kashmir dispute as the Indian occupation is unjustified and illegal. The ambassador said that the Jammu and Kashmir dispute must be resolved in accordance with the UN Security Council resolutions and wishes of Kashmiri people.