DALIAN: Pakistan has beensmoothly implementing an ambitious plan to build an economiccorridor with China, despite experiencing some challenges,Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal said on Wednesday.
China has promised $57 billion in investment in projectsalong the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, part of itsambitious Belt and Road plan linking China with the Middle Eastand Europe.
Chinese President Xi Jinping proposed the Belt and Roadproject in 2013.
“We are smoothly implementing and we are very satisfied withthe speed of the implementation," Iqbal, the Islamabad lead on
the project, told Reuters on the sidelines of the World EconomicForum in the Chinese city of Dalian.
In addition to the investment pledges from China, Pakistanwould invest close to $10 billion, he said.
The economic corridor, to be completed in three phases by2030, will boost Pakistan´s energy security and infrastructure,helping it attract more foreign investment, he said.
Iqbal told the forum there were some challenges to beaddressed, including on coordination among different governmentministries and among "internal and external stakeholders".
"There are a number of challenges which have to beaddressed," he said.
"There are actually many gaps that we have to correctlyaddress.First and foremost is the coordination gap," he said.
Pakistan and China aim to build a network of rail, road andenergy infrastructure as part of the Belt and Road initiative.
Pakistan has been one of the most enthusiastic supporters ofthe initiative, in part because many projects are for powerplants to alleviate its chronic energy shortage that leads tofrequent blackouts.