'One belt-one road' PCJCCI claims project 'a paradigm of regional co-existence'

The Pakistan-China Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry has talked up the importance of the 'one belt-one road' project, claiming that it "is a paradigm of regional co-existence". The comment came from chamber President Shah Faisal Afridi who talked about the project significance, saying it aims at linking China, Central Asia, Russia and Europe, with the Persian Gulf, South East Asia and the Indian Ocean with the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and Yunnan as starting points.
"The land corridor between China-Mongolia-Russia will be built with the Chinese province of Heilongjiang as starting point. Starting from Kolkata, the China-India-Bangladesh-Myanmar corridor will be built and the China-Central Asia-West Asia corridor with Xinjiang as a starting point. An exclusive China-Pakistan Economic Corridor will be built to connect Gwadar with Xinjiang," he said.
He also said the project firmly focused on the continent development goals and that this model of shared destiny and co-operation was having a unique three-dimensional character engulfing true spirit of reciprocity, kinship and inclusiveness. "China will construct a new world economy that will serve generations," he added.
He went on to say, "China has chosen to begin the implementation of this big-bang template with Pakistan since both nations are the iron friends. The China Pakistan Economic Corridor is, in fact, a trunk passageway connecting the Silk Road Economic Belt in the north with the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road in the south. Branches from this trunk are also expected to connect Afghanistan, India and Iran with the Chinese 'Belt and Road' system."
On the recent visit by President Xi Jinping, he said the decisions taken by President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and the signing of 51 memoranda of understanding were a historic first and one that had further consolidated relations with China, which would bring up a new era of progress for the people of Pakistan.
He said the corridor was not merely an ordinary economic corridor or a transit trade route, but it would be a fate changer project through which the Pakistani nation would be able to generate up to 10,000 megawatts of power, several hydropower dams, a high-speed railway facility, educational institutes and medical facilities.
The corridor would also be the harbinger of enormous job opportunities for Pakistanis. "Still other components include integrating industrial chains, clusters and parks so that regional countries can build on their comparative advantage and entire industrial sectors can develop in concert," he added. He then talked about a series of initiatives paving the way for several corridors to boost regional economies to the tune of $2.5 trillion benefiting over a population of 4.4 billion across 65 countries.
"The initiative is not simply building roads, rails, and ports but introduces a comprehensive network of infrastructure development, he said and added that Asian Infrastructure and Investment Bank, The BRICS New Development Bank, the Silk Road Fund, as well as China-Asean Interbank Association, and SCO Interbank Association will also finance projects built under this initiative," he said.