ISLAMABAD: In order to establish linkages between the private sectors of China and Pakistan after the completion of the first phase of $46 billion China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) by 2018, the government is organising a two-day CPEC Summit and Expo from today (Monday), which will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif.
More than 140 delegates from China are participating in the summit.“This CPEC summit is aimed at establishing business-to-business (B2B) contacts between Chinese and Pakistanis CEOs of different companies in order to get them ready for the second implementation phase of CPEC beyond 2018 as the energy and road connectivity projects will be completed by that time.
“So this is an opportunitytheir linkages for maximizing benefits out of CPEC initiative,” Federal Minister for Planning Ahsan Iqbal told The News when contacted him over phone here on Sunday.
He said $18 billion worth of projects were in the implementation phase while the remaining portfolio of $17 billion was in the pipeline and at the stage of preparation. It has never happened in Pakistan’s history that a piece of paper (MoU) has turned into reality of $46 billion, he added.
The CPEC initiative will help establish the right kind of linkages between the two sides provided Islamabad met all timelines by putting all out efforts and energies for creating synergies and harmonization among all different ministries, departments as well as with all provinces.
The CPEC initiative, which experts termed as game changer in this part of the world, will be utilizing $35 billion on energy projects which will be undertaken in the mode of Independent Power Producers (IPPs) as they will generate electricity and the government will buy from them on the tariff determined by the Nepra.
The remaining $11 billion will be spent on infrastructure mainly on construction of roads and development of Gwadar port. “China made commitment for such a huge investment at a time when no one was ready to invest even a penny in this part of the world citing security risks. But its success will also depend upon on us that how we manage these projects in order to extract maximum benefits out from it. If the right kind of linkages could not be established where industries flourished along side roads then it could be turned into danger when time of repatriation of profits for Chinese companies would come.”
The Ministry of Planning, Development & Reforms has organized the summit on Monday (today) in which PM Nawaz Sharif will deliver inaugural speech. In this session, Ahsan Iqbal will deliver welcome address while Pakistan’s Ambassador to China Masood Khalid, Chinese Ambassador in Pakistan Sun Weidong and Special Assistant to PM on Foreign Affairs Tariq Fatemi will also address the inaugural session.
Then formal session of summit titled sharing the fruits of regional development will kick-start which will be chaired by Adviser to the PM on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz. In this session, expert Su Ge will throw light on regional development through ‘One Belt One Road’ initiatedby China to establish road connection with different parts of the world in a bid to give boost to its economic power.
Yan Zhiyong, Chairman, Power Construction Corporation of China, will deliver a lecture on the role of China in promoting One Belt One Road/CPEC initiative. The interplay between CPEC and OBOR: A Chinese Scholar’s prospective will also be presented in this session.
Professor Du Y oukang, Director, Centre for South Asian Studies & Pakistan Study Center, Institute of International Studies, will also speak while Dr Safdar Sohail, Executive Director, Planning Commission’s CPEC Centre of Excellence, Islamabad and former ambassador Munir Akram will also speak on this occasion.
Then Pakistan-China CEOs forum will also be held in which business tycoons of both sides will share their experiences and will also suggest ways and means to ensure business to business cooperation in months and years ahead.
In the afternoon, three different panels will discuss opportunities for Pakistan’s business under CPEC, business opportunities in energy and connectivity under CPEC and business opportunities in trade and commerce under CPEC will hold different session with different experts in which they will dwell upon on the outcome of $46 billion initiative and how both sides required to place a mechanism under which they could establish long term business to business relations for creating win-win for both sides.
The last session of the day will be held under title CPEC and sub regional socio economic development in Pakistan on Monday afternoon. On Tuesday, different industries will arrange an expo exhibition to show different Pak made products.