Sino-Pak relationship is transforming into an innovative chapter of economic development. China is a growing trading and industrial power and Pakistan could easily benefit from China's US $11 trillion economy. The two countries enjoy warm relations in all sectors since 1950s. A great opportunity for Pakistan is to become a 'Suez Canal' for China-Pakistan trade in the Middle East.
This game-changer project, CPEC, will help Pakistan to have a large number of industrial parks and processing units. The far away and remote areas of Balochistan and Sindh will get a great portion of development from this Project. Pakistan will see a boost in exports with easy access to world markets. The CPEC is a 3,218-Km set-up of roads, railways and dry ports from Gwadar Port to Kashgar and will positively impact the lives of about 3 billion people of this region. It will help China through Pakistan to do trade with the half of the world's countries.
This mega project, CPEC, falls into two parts: transportation and energy. An energy master plan of power generation projects to overcome the energy crises would also greatly benefit Pakistan. It is needed to develop and implement a reform roadmap to make it possible without any interruption and hurdles. If everything is fine and goes well, the CPEC will supply up to 6,400MW of energy by 2020.
With the CPEC, there is hope that this project will open up new business outlets for businesspeople from China, Pakistan and Iran. It will also provide a platform of co-operation in huge agricultural sector which would help transmit energy related to agrochemical, pesticides, seeds, and fertilisers. Furthermore, the CPEC will immensely boost the tourism industry of Pakistan.
To achieve maximum economic, industrial and infrastructural benefits through CPEC, greater consensuses in planning, research, co-ordination, security and consultation is needed. There is extensive acknowledgement of the fact that the CPEC is a historic opportunity for Pakistan.