ISLAMABAD: The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) coupled with accelerated movement in Central Asia for WTO accession and Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) ratifications will give a new stimulus to regional trade integration.
Commerce Minister Khurram Dastagir said while addressing the WTO Summit in Kenyan capital Nairobi, according to a message delivered to The News.He highlighted the CPEC and said Pakistan is envisioned to be the economic and trade hub for Central Asia and South Asia. “With accession of Afghanistan and Kazakhstan, the CPEC will get a further boost,” he said.
The minister said ratification of Transports Internationaux Routiers (TIR-International Road Transports) conventions, revised Kyoto Protocol, Afghan-Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement and the quadrilateral transit trade agreement among China, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Pakistan for facilitating traffic in transit, coupled with TFA and recent accessions of Central Asian countries and CPEC provides a solid systemic and infrastructural basis for regional economic bloc of global proportions.
Khurram Dastagir said that the CPEC will go a long way in materialising the vision of making Pakistan a regional economic hub as well as a critical partner with a view to realising the strategic trade objectives, giving confidence to international corporations and entities with an overarching role to play not only at the regional but also at the global level. It will also accelerate and facilitate the economic benefits envisioned through facilitating regional and international trade. He said the CPEC, needs to be seen in a perspective, is linked with two larger infrastructure projects embracing the whole of Asia and designed to establish new trade and transport links between China, South Asia, Middle East, Central Asia and beyond.
The CPEC is vital link between Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road – the ‘Belt and Road Initiative’, he said.The minister said this $46 billion initiative spread over 15 years has all the vital elements of economic development, like transport, highways, railways, ports, industrial zones, IT, last but not least energy, its considerable part being renewable comprising hydro, solar and wind.
He said the CPEC is going to be a game changer for Pakistan and the region and will be a bridge between three engines of growth, China, South Asia and Central Asia, thus giving a stimulus to a deep regional economic integration and creating a trading bloc of 3 billion people, nearly half of the planet.
“Mind you these also include half of world’s extreme poor. The deepening of economic integration will lower trade costs, essential for ending poverty. Trade is a critical enabler of growth, opening up opportunities of new and better work for the poor.”
Khurram Dastagir said Pakistan is the sixth most populous nation on the globe with 70pc of them being below 30 years. “We have 4,000 to 5,000 MW energy deficit, which is 25pc of our total generation capacity; it is costing us 2pc of GDP growth. This development deficit needed an initiative of ‘Big Bang Scale’, like CPEC. It is a set of 55 projects – 75pc of funding is for providing 17000 MW of energy, over next ten years.”
The minister said that the hallmark of the initiative is the North South Highway and rail link, designed to connect Arabian Gulf coast of Pakistan in South to North Western Chinese Region of Xinjiang and Kashgar, thus reducing the distance of China’s North West from Arabian Gulf from 14,000 kilometers to 2,500 kilometers, thus transforming the trade cost for whole region. The CPEC, he said, will result in increase in trade, investment and financial flows, bringing peace and prosperity to the region through enhancement in the competitiveness of the economies and reduction in trade cost. The CPEC epitomises South-South trade at its best, he added.