The
7th meeting of Joint Cooperation Committee on China Pakistan Economic Corridor
started in Islamabad on Monday. As a kick start
before the actual commencement of the JCC, meeting of the Senior Officials was
jointly chaired by the secretary planning Mr. Shoaib Siddiqui and his Chinese
counterpart. The SOM was attended by the senior government officials, members
of the Joint Working Groups (JWG) on Ling Term Plan, Energy, Infrastructure ,
Gawadar, Industrial Cooperation and Security from China and Pakistan, Secretary
to the Prime Minister Mr. Fawad Hassan Fawad, federal secretaries of the line
ministries, chairman Gawadar Development Authority, Chairman Gawadar Port
Authority and representatives of the provincial governments.
Welcoming the Chinese delegates,
secretary planning Mr. Shoaib Siddiuiee stated that successful execution of the
ongoing projects by now shows strong commitment and resolve of both China and
Pakistan to execute every single project under the CPEC framework in letter and
spirit. China and Pakistan are time tested and all weather friends since decades.
The friendship was further transformed into iron brotherhood and economic
partnership while both signed the CPEC framework which took this friendship to
the new heights. He maintained that CPEC was a project of shared destiny and
framework offering equal opportunities to the people of China and
Pakistan.
The secretary planning maintained
that Pakistani people as a nation and the government of Pakistan envisages
great value to the commitment of Chinese leadership and the people for bringing
huge investment of USD46 billion which encouraged the global investors to take
Pakistan as their investment destination. Government and the people of Pakistan
are committed to complete the this mega project through firm determination,
coordinated efforts between the government functionaries and the line
ministries.
The secretary planning said that the
pace of work and fast track execution of the projects was quite satisfactory
since most of the projects underway were following the timelines agreed between
the Chinese and Pakistani side. He hoped that keeping in view the progress of
projects in the energy, infrastructure sectors and Gawadar, the completion of
early harvest projects would be in time and on par with the international
standards. Gwadar is the most important element of CPEC which guarantees
regional prosperity and well being of the natives in particular.
Shoaib Siddiqui said that economic
corridor was entering into the next phase of industrial cooperation which would
make Pakistan a manufacturing hub and epicentre for connectivity in the region.
The secretary planning expressed his satisfaction on the performance of Joint
Working Groups who were putting into sincere efforts in a diligent way.
Meanwhile, briefing on the second
session of meeting, spokesman of ministry of Planing Asim Khan said that joint
working groups on Long Term Plan, Industrial Cooperation, Gwadar, Transport
Infrastructure, energy and security were meeting to review the progress and
finalise proposals in their respective areas. These proposals would be tabled
in the Joint Cooperation Committee (JCC) on 21 Novemberfor
final acceptance and formal approval to make those part of the CPEC framework.
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