ISLAMABAD: Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Ahsan Iqbal emphasized on constructing the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) to leverage its geo-strategic environment for economic gains and integrate the entire region into a big regional market.

The minister expressed these views while speaking at a public talk, “CPEC: A Catalyst for the Economic Development of Pakistan” organised by the China-Pakistan Study Centre at the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad on Wednesday.

“In vision 2025, one main pillar was that Pakistan should construct a hand-built corridor to leverage its geo-strategic environment for economic gains. Through such modern economic frameworks and initiatives Pakistan could integrate this whole region into a one big regional market,” he said.

The minister recalled that the government was charting an initial roadmap for the CPEC and it faced two bottlenecks at that time, which were the energy-power crisis and the road and rail infrastructure fragility. He said those issues had largely been addressed to kick start industrialisation in the country.

“The challenge today for every developing country is to become an economically-ideal state. We have yet to learn to be an economic nation. This is not the age of political and conventional wars rather it is the era of economic competition and trade wars where technology is defining the parameters of modern economy in the changing world spectrum. It is, therefore, the need of the hour to show unity in areas and ventures of national interest only then can we survive the storm,” the minister said.

He said that to develop a country a 10 to 20 years of framework was required in order to ensure internal stability. He explained that the public sector was run by three chapters, Project, Programme and Policies. He said that Vision 2025 clearly articulated that it was time for Pakistan to move away from geo-politics to geo-economics.

The minister noted that in the last four years, the progress on CPEC projects particularly Special Economic Zones, Gwadar port and some infrastructure projects had faced serious setbacks. He said that along with that, Pakistan’s fiscal problems and procedural obstructions had also made China more cautious regarding investments thus, leading to a loss of momentum from the Chinese side. However, he said the government was putting full efforts to bring CPEC back on track. He said the government was taking viable steps to finish the transmission line between Panjgur and Turbat. He said that as soon as it was done there would be no power shortage issues in Gwadar. He said the government was also looking forward to the upcoming Joint Coordination Committee (JCC) meeting. He affirmed that Pakistan’s future depended on its exports.

Earlier, Director China-Pakistan Study Centre Dr Talat Shabbir, in his introductory remarks, stated that since the establishment of formal diplomatic relations, the ties between Pakistan and the People’s Republic of China had remained steady, moving from strength to strength that relation only fortified more which could be witnessed through different phases of history despite changes in the global and regional political and strategic environment.

He stressed that the CPEC had the potential to be a collaborative project for infrastructure construction, industrial development, and livelihood improvement, if there was a consistency in economic policies, right and correct narratives were advanced and all the CPEC-related issues were dealt with on war footing.

Director General Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad Ambassador Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry, while welcoming the federal minister and other guests, said that right from the inception of the idea of the CPEC, Ahsan Iqbal had been associated with the CPEC and might be considered one of its primary architects. He noted that lingering doubts about the CPEC keep coming back from detractors regarding transparency, sovereignty concerns and rising debt levels. He stated that lately, a renewed enthusiasm regarding the CPEC could be felt; however, to remove the impediments and to have miraculous outcomes political stability was a must.

In the end, Chairman Board of Governors Ambassador Khalid Mahmood presented the institute’s memento to Federal Minister Iqbal.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022