World News | Post-COVID-19, CPEC Will Become Trade Hub, Says Pakistan Foreign Office

Islamabad, Dec 7 (PTI) Pakistan on Monday said that after the coronavirus pandemic is brought under control through medicines and vaccines, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) would blossom into a hub of trade and commerce.

The Pakistan Foreign Office (FO), in a statement, said Foreign Secretary Sohail Mahmood and Chairman CPEC Authority, Lt Gen (R) Asim Salim Bajwa discussed the CPEC project on Monday.

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“It was reaffirmed in the meeting that post-COVID-19, through collective efforts of China and Pakistan, the CPEC would become the hub for the regional trade and connectivity and will deepen people-to-people exchanges at a wider level,” the FO said.

The Foreign Secretary said in the meeting between Mahmood and Bajwa the next phase of CPEC was discussed, which pertained to industrialisation and socio-economic development.

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He said three out of the nine CPEC Special Economic Zones (SEZs), namely Rashakai, Dhabeji and Allama Iqbal, have been prioritised and Pakistan would welcome foreign direct investment in those projects.

"CPEC is a transformational project. There is a complete national consensus on CPEC's indispensability for our national development efforts. Pakistan and China are firmly committed to the timely completion of CPEC projects and making it a High-Quality Demonstration Project of BRI (Belt and Road Initiative),” the Foreign Secretary was quoted as saying in the meeting.

The USD 60 billion CPEC connecting China's resource-rich Xinjiang province with Pakistan's strategic Gwadar port in Balochistan is regarded as the flagship project of the multi-billion BRI, the pet scheme of President Xi aimed at furthering China's influence globally with Chinese funded infrastructure projects.

India has objected to the CPEC as it is being laid through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)