ISLAMABAD: Pakistani and Chinese authorities held a ‘progress review’ meeting on Monday to discuss important CPEC projects and minutes of the eleventh JCC sitting, following an important visit of Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal to Beijing and a meeting with Vice Chairman of National Development and Reform Commission Li Chunlin.
Nadeem Javaid, Chief Economist of the Planning Division at the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, Pan Jiang, NDRC Director General, co-chaired the meeting, which the senior officials from the Ministries of Planning, Industry, Communication, Energy, Agriculture, Interior, Science and Technology, Information Technology and Telecommunication and Board of Investment attended.
Both sides showed satisfaction with the smooth implementation of different CPEC projects and agreed that all the issues would be fully resolved in the spirit of traditional cooperation, complete trust and brotherhood, and mutual understanding.
The participants expressed satisfaction with the progress made in the 4 priority Special Economic Zones (SEZs): Allama Iqbal Industrial City, Dhabeji, Rashakai, and Bostan. They agreed to ‘further expedite’ the progress to attract relocation of high-standard industries.
The inking of the Framework Agreement for Industrial Cooperation was lauded, and both sides committed to organizing bi-annual meetings to review the implementation of the framework.
Chief Economist Nadeem Javaid also requested full support from the NDRC and other relevant Chinese government organizations to advance the implementation of important projects such as Karachi Circular Railway (KCR), Main-Line (ML-1), and key energy projects.
Decade of CPEC
As 2023 marks the Decade of CPEC and the solid Pak-China partnership, both countries are celebrating ten years of the Belt and Road Initiative and CPEC on 5 July 2023, whereby high-level Chinese delegations will visit Pakistan to witness the achievements made since the launching of CPEC.
