'Business community appreciates significance of CPEC'

The army chief has praised the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, claiming it has already started showing a positive impact on Pakistan's economy while seven-to-eight-percent growth rate is being predicted as soon as it completes. While paying tributes to the Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif for his categorical remarks to safeguard this project, Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry former senior vice chairman Malik Tahir Javaid said that almost all countries had started focusing Pakistan as good business destination because of its unmatched infrastructure leading to landlocked Central Asian States and deep seaport Gwadar.
He said that it was a high time to start business in Pakistan as any investment made in this part of the world would not only get its way to China but it would also have markets of Middle East in its access. With the lifting of sanctions on Iran and fast track work on CPEC, the economic situation in Pakistan had already taken a positive turn and would be getting better with every passing day, he added.
The business community fully understands the importance of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor therefore it would not let it fall prey to any conspiracies. We would not be able to realise the full benefits of Gwadar without completing the CPEC that would provide Pakistan access not only to China but to Central Asian States without passing through Afghanistan.
He said that bulk cargo container ships currently anchor at Dubai where they offload comparatively small Pakistani cargo that is transshipped to Pakistani ports by smaller ships. Transshipment is costly and unnecessary for a country like Pakistan which has ports that can handle large cargo ships. The local consumption in Dubai is also very low but this port city acts as a regional warehouse for various global companies.
Moreover it also acts as a transshipment hub for Pakistan, India, Iran and other countries in the Middle East. With the completion of CPEC, Gwadar would actually be winning the most of the business being done in other nearby ports to earn much needed revenue for Pakistan. Therefore both the public and private sectors should untilise all their energies for the timely completion of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, he added.