Minister for Finance Asad Umar on Wednesday said that the government acknowledges friendly countries' help in difficult economic situation to meet the financing gap, especially from China, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates.
Speaking at launching of annual report by Burky Institute of Public Policy, he said that Pakistan would always remember this gesture by the friendly countries.
With respect to China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), Umar stated the CPEC was a bilateral partnership, but with the consent of both the countries, it has been decided that the third countries would also be invited to invest in some of its projects because the idea was that the connectivity should not just remain confined to North-South but also to expand it in the Western world.
The minister stated that the government wants to transform the infrastrucural phase of CPEC to a genuine economic corridor. "If we create the trade, knowledge, and industrial linkages, we would be able to make CPEC a genuine economic corridor," he said. In the second phase of CPEC, the private sector would have to be encouraged to take the driving seat by largely participating in the mega project. He said the CPEC is going to be the centre of gravity of the global economy in coming years and Pakistan would not just be a beneficiary of this regional growth but would be a contributor to it as well. He added that Iran is an important neighbor of Pakistan. Pakistan wants to improve trade relations with all its neighbours and regional countries including Iran, India, and Turkey.
The minister said whenever the officials of World Bank and other international bodies came to him, they always emphasised on intra-regional trade for boosting economic growth and resumption of good trade ties with India. However, he stated, he was never asked about another important neighbour in the west which is Iran. He said the Prime Minister has already taken the initiative to start developing trade relationships with India and hopefully the new leadership of India after the general election will give a serious thought to PM's initiative.