BEIJING: According to China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, has played an important role in bilateral cooperation between China and Pakistan, creating over 155,000 local jobs for Pakistanis.
Officials from NDRC stated this during a regular news briefing adding that the CPEC produced excellent results, including the Gwadar Port and relevant cooperation projects in energy, infrastructure, and industry. The Commission added that various highway construction programs are on track. Power facilities that have come into commercial operation supply roughly one-third of Pakistan’s national electricity consumption, changing the country’s power crisis status.
The Gwadar Port; built by China and Pakistan
The Gwadar Port, which was jointly built by China and Pakistan, has made significant progress towards becoming a regional logistical hub and industrial base. Furthermore, the first phase of the Rashakai Special Economic Zone in Pakistan has been completed, with positive results in terms of company attraction, according to the NDRC. As of the end of 2022, the CPEC had created 236,000 jobs, with 155,000 Pakistani workers.
According to Global Times, the NDRC vowed to accelerate cooperation in the transportation, energy, and industrial sectors and areas connected to people’s livelihoods and extend collaboration in the agricultural, mineral extraction, and technological spheres. Meanwhile, in order to broaden the CPEC’s reach, the foreign ministers of China, Afghanistan, and Pakistan have decided to extend the program to Afghanistan in order to broaden BRI cooperation.
Afghanistan is a landlocked country that relies on foreign trade through Pakistani ports. Afghanistan has become the first landlocked Central Asian country to gain from potential cross-border trade through the Chinese-invested Gwadar Port in Pakistan.
According to China’s Ministry of Commerce, the Gwadar Port ultimately received an e-export trade license with Afghanistan in the second half of 2019 after numerous rounds of discussions with appropriate authorities in Pakistan. Afghanistan imported 43,000 tonnes of fertilizer through the port in 2020, helping the country’s agricultural prosperity.
