Participants of conference on the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) have called for chalking out and implementation of a comprehensive plan to prepare labour and vendor industry to absorb the corridor investment. Their call came on Friday at a concluding session of the international conference organised by the Government College University in Lahore, with a crucial policy dialogue among academicians and intellectuals from China, the United States, Belgium and Pakistan.
They said Chinese language should be promoted and people-to-people contacts ought to be enhanced since it was not only vital for cultural and social harmony but also for a significant impact on economic benefits from the project. The policy dialogue resolution also reads that in energy sector, hydropower projects must be preferred on thermal projects, and visa policy between the two countries must be relaxed to enhance people-to-people contact.
Historian Professor Doctor Tahir Kamran chaired the three-hour long policy dialogue in the university's Syndicate Committee Room where the speakers stressed transparency, strict monitoring and merit-based appointments in the corridor projects. NUST Rector Engineer Asghar Khan, Lawyer Anwar Kamal, XIHUA University, China Vice President Dr Li Jian, Dr Xiaoqing Xie, Dr Hauan Delin, GCU Centre of Excellence China Studies Director Dr Khalid Manzoor Butt and other paper presenters participated and outlined 14 recommendations/areas which need the attention of the government and its policy makers along with the top-priority infrastructural development. The speakers also said the scope of the corridor should be inclusive in relation to all domestic and regional actors which would multiply the economic benefits from the project and play a vital in strengthening ties between the South Asian and Central Asian countries.
"The government should give appropriate share to private sector in the project," they said. They also called for a political consensus to be achieved among all the provinces.
"Educational and research links must be established between the universities of the two countries for the development of knowledge-based economy in Pakistan. And, also think tanks must be established in the country's educational institutions. The academicians said security and law and order situation must also be improved for the success of the corridor," they added. Conference Chairman Dr Khalid Maznoor Butt said the proceedings would be published shortly for the greater benefit of the country from the huge academic exercise in which 20 experts from China had also participated.
Vice Chancellor Professor Dr Hassan Amir Shah said the conference played vital role in connecting the university with the top universities of China and its academicians and also appreciated the efforts by Dr Butt and management committee of the conference for making the international event a success. Professor Shah said the university wanted to place the Chinese faculty at its Centre for Excellence, China Studies for which they had asked the government and the Higher Education Commission for its financial support.