China has welcomed the participation of third parties in the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), said Chinese Ambassador in Pakistan Nong Rong saying that this would further strengthen the mega project.

Addressing the CPEC Industrial Cooperation Investment Conference organised by Federal Board of Investment (BoI) on Thursday, the ambassador invited the investors from across the world to invest in the Special Economic Zones (SEZs) being established under the CPEC.

“The Chinese embassy wants to work closely with BOI and any third party to promote development of CPEC, he added.

Nong Rong said in Rashakai SEZ, both Pakistan and China were mutually working to ensure security, visa facilitation, and other infrastructure facilities.

Addressing the attendees, Chairman BOI Atif Bukhari said the second phase of the CPEC had just commenced and the Federal BOI would continue to take lead on investment promotion, facilitation, and industrial cooperation.

Bukhari invited the business community from not only China but also from other countries to come and invest in Pakistan’s economic sectors.

He said the government had already launched conducive policies such as electric vehicle policy, mobile manufacturing, construction sector policies, sole enterprise Special Economic Zone, Regulations 2020, and SEZ Zone Enterprise Admin and Sale/Lease/Sub-lease of Plot Regulations 2021, to increase investment in Pakistan.

He informed that currently, out of the nine CPEC SEZs, two were in advance stage of development including Rashakai SEZ in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Allama Iqbal Industrial City in Faisalabad, Punjab.