Coronavirus to have ‘too marginal’ impact on CPEC, says Pakistan’s envoy to China

• The effects on sectors negatively impacted by lockdown measures to control epidemic are ‘ephemeral and manageable,’ says envoy.
• Despite the virus outbreak, the trade flows and transportation linkages between Pakistan and China have not suspended.

Pakistan’s Ambassador to China Naghmana Hashmi has said that the outbreak of novel Coronavirus, will have little impact on the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), the flagship project of China’s Belt and Road Initiative.

Talking to Global Times, the Pakistani envoy discussed the impact of COVID-19 on the Chinese economy and its economic ties with Pakistan. “The ever-increasing economic and trade integration between Pakistan and China has made our two economies increasingly inter-dependent, especially in the context of the CPEC,” said the envoy.

Naghmana appreciated China’s efforts in combating the epidemic, and was of the view that the effects on sectors negatively impacted by lockdown measures to control epidemic are ‘ephemeral and manageable.’

Hashmi said that despite the virus outbreak, the trade flows and transportation linkages between Pakistan and China have not suspended.  “The overall impact of the epidemic on the CPEC, if any, is therefore too marginal and meager to merit any serious afterthought,” she said.

“I would like to solemnly assure that the CPEC will continue its mutually beneficial march toward development, prosperity and win-win cooperation in line with the aspirations of the peoples of both countries,” she added.

The number of people infected with coronavirus surpassed 100,000 across the world on Friday as the outbreak reached more countries and intensified economic damage, with business districts beginning to empty and stock markets tumbling.