ISLAMABAD: July 31,2023: Prime Minister, Shahbaz Sharif, is determined to advance the second phase of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) under the new model. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said in his address to a ceremony related to CPEC here on Monday the second phase of CPEC will be carried out under a new model.
The signing ceremony of the Memorandum of Understanding between Pakistan and China was held at the Prime Minister’s House, in which Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif and Chinese Vice Premier He Li Feng were specially present.
Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif while addressing the ceremony said On the completion of 10 years of CPEC he was grateful for the visit of Chinese Vice Premier He Li Feng to Pakistan.
The Prime Minister said that thanks to this agreement, today we can say that more than 25 billion dollars have been invested in energy, road, infrastructure, public transport and hydel power sectors in Pakistan.
The Prime Minister said “I have no doubt that we are entering the second phase of CPEC, today we have signed some important documents which will further increase the economic cooperation between the two countries”.
The Prime Minister said that we will proceed with the second phase of CPEC under a new model, which will focus on business-to-business, investment, agriculture and IT so that with the cooperation of China, Pakistan can make its products meet the standards and requirements of the Chinese government. Can be exported accordingly.
Shahbaz Sharif said that he was grateful to Xi Jinping for sending the Deputy Prime Minister of China as a special ambassador to Pakistan. This will send a message to the world that China and Pakistan are linked in a relationship that is unique in the world, he added. This friendship, he maintained between Pakistan and China will always remain and we will not tolerate any obstacle in it.
Later, President, Arif Alvi, awarded the Chinese Deputy Prime Minister with Pakistan’s second highest civilian award, Hilal Pakistan (Crescent of Pakistan), during a ceremony held at the President’s House in Islamabad. It was given in recognition of his role in the promotion of bilateral relations between the two countries. The ceremony was attended by Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif and other civil and military leaders.
In the ceremony held at the Prime Minister House, before the speech of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, memorandums of understanding were signed between China and Pakistan.
On this occasion, Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Maryam Aurangzeb, Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Specialization were present. The actions of Professor Ahsan Iqbal, Federal Minister of Commerce Syed Naveed Qamar, Federal Minister of Finance and Senator Muhammad Ishaq Dar, Federal Minister of Interior Rana Sanaullah Khan, Federal Minister of Aviation and Railways Khawaja Saad Rafiq, Federal Minister of Food Security Tariq Bashir Cheema and the Prime Minister Apart from Special Assistant Tariq Fatemi, members of the Chinese delegation were also present.
On this occasion, Pakistan and China signed 6 agreements and memoranda of understanding to promote bilateral cooperation.
According to the report, Federal Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal and Vice Chairman of China’s National Development and Reform Commission signed the CPEC Joint Cooperation Committee document.
The second document that was signed was related to the establishment of a mechanism for the exchange of experts within the framework of CPEC.
The third document, which was signed by Secretary Ministry of National Food Security Zafar Hassan and Chinese Governor Peng Chunxu, was regarding the export of dry chillies from Pakistan to China.
The fourth document, signed by National Highway Authority Member Planning Asim Amin and Chinese Governor Peng Chunxu, was related to the ‘feasibility study’ of the Karakoram Highway Phase 2 project.
The two sides also signed a memorandum of understanding on the exchange program of industrial workers through diplomatic channels, besides agreeing to promote the strategic ML1 project.
Earlier, Chinese Vice Premier and member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party Li Feng met Shahbaz Sharif after arriving in Pakistan to participate in the ceremony to mark the 10th anniversary of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). He reached the Prime Minister’s House where he was warmly welcomed.It may be recalled that CPEC is a collection of infrastructure and other projects under construction across Pakistan since 2013. This mega project aims to rapidly upgrade Pakistan’s required basic infrastructure, modern transportation networks, various energy projects. And to strengthen the country’s economy through the construction of special economic zones.
The main agreement for the projects listed under CPEC was signed in 2013 and the term sheets for these projects were signed in 2015 during President Xi Jinping’s visit to Pakistan. CPEC became partially operational in November 2016 and brought the port of Gwadar to ship Chinese cargo by sea to Africa and West Asia.
China has so far invested $25.4 billion in various projects including transport, energy and infrastructure in Pakistan, the flagship connectivity and investment corridor project is part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
In a statement on the social media website Twitter, he said, “China’s Vice Premier and member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, Hei Feng, attended the CPEC 10-year celebration and this game-changing initiative.
Earlier, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif enthusiastically and his delegation welcomed the Chinese delegation at the main entrance of the Prime Minister’s House.
On the arrival of Chinese Deputy Prime Minister He Li Feng, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif met the members of the Federal Cabinet including Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah, Syed Naveed Qamar, Ahsan Iqbal, Saad Rafique, Maryam Aurangzeb, Hina Rabbani Khar. And introduced Tariq Fatemi to him.
It should be noted that the Chinese Deputy Minister along with his delegation arrived in Islamabad on Pakistan’s invitation where Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah welcomed them.
Earlier, in a statement issued by the Foreign Office, it was said that Chinese Vice Premier and member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party He Lifeng had arrived in Pakistan on July 30 to August 1, 2023, during which he will visit Pakistan-China Economic Corridor. (CPEC) will participate in the 10-year ceremony. According to the statement released by the Foreign Office, Vice Prime Minister He Lifeng played a significant role in China’s international economic relations and the implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative. CPEC is an important project.
It was further informed that as the Chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission 2017-23, he played an important role in the planning and implementation of several CPEC projects in Pakistan.
According to the Foreign Office, the visit is part of regular high-level exchanges and talks between Pakistan and China, reflecting the importance attached by Pakistan and China to deepening the All-Weather Strategic Cooperative Partnership.
The statement added that the partnership aims to enhance economic and financial cooperation in reaffirming support on issues of mutual interest, advance the high-quality development of CPEC and strengthen trade and investment relations between the two countries. It involves finding new ways to strengthen.
It should be noted that in July this year, Federal Minister for Planning Ahsan Iqbal paid a four-day official visit to China in connection with the 10-year celebrations of CPEC.
During Ahsan Iqbal’s visit, Pakistan and China agreed to speed up implementation of ML-1 and special economic zones on completion of 10 years of CPEC so that the projects can be completed on time.
The parties also decided to hold regular meetings of joint working groups to review the ongoing cooperation under the framework of CPEC and to ensure implementation of all plans for the next phase, which is very wide in scope. I have more focus on industrialization, agriculture, science and technology and social sector.
Earlier in early May, Chinese Foreign Minister Chen Gang also visited Pakistan, during which the foreign ministers of Pakistan, China and Afghanistan discussed strengthening trilateral cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). -Reaffirmed commitment to jointly extend China Economic Corridor (CPEC) to Afghanistan.