ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives, Ahsan Iqbal Thursday said the government would expedite China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects to promote business to business cooperation with China.

Speaking a news conference after 11th Joint Cooperation Committee (JCC) meeting, he said that “we want business to business (B2B) cooperation along with government-to-government agreements (G2G) with China”.

“We want peace, political instability and enabling environment to attract private investment of China in Pakistan. The potential of CPEC is unlimited and we can bring investment of billions of dollars by establishing peace, political stability and continuity of policies in the country,” he added.

The minister said that there is a need of political stability and attractive environment to attract direct investment in the country, adding the incumbent government fully supports the CPEC and it is committed to expediting work on the projects under CPEC.

CPEC: Ministries directed to remove bottlenecks

He said that financial closing has been finalized on the ML-1 project, Karachi Circular Railways projects in this 11th JCC meeting.

He said that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif would announce all the projects which have been finalized in the JCC meeting during his visit to China on November 1, 2022.

He said when the PML-N government signed $46 billion projects under the CPEC back in 2013, no one in the world was willing to bring investment in Pakistan due to law and order situation.

Pakistan desperately needed investment in energy and infrastructure sectors, he said, adding China also helped Pakistan utilizing its strategic reserves such as Thar Coal which are now producing thousands of megawatts energy and contributing to the national grid. He said that there were three targets of 11th JCC meeting, one is to expedite the CPEC projects, second is to include more projects in the CPEC and this is to promote business to business cooperation along with G to G agreements under the CPEC.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022