ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan-China Institute (PCI), the country’s preeminent think tank for promoting ties with China, has become the first Pakistani institution to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Green Development with China.
The MoU was signed in Beijing between the PCI and the Belt & Road Initiative International Green Development Coalition (BRIGC). The agreement aims to facilitate and promote Pakistan-China cooperation on environment and climate change, supporting the green and low-carbon development of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). This is the first MoU on Green Development that the BRIGC has signed with any Pakistani institution.
Under the agreement, both parties will work closely to promote green and low-carbon cooperation between China and Pakistan through the BRI. This collaboration will include conducting joint research, co-organising consultation workshops and report launches with key stakeholders, supporting each other’s key studies or activities, and developing high-level policy recommendations on green energy, low-carbon transportation, and other strategic issues in Pakistan and other BRI partner countries.
The MoU was signed by Mustafa Hyder Sayed, Executive Director of the Pakistan-China Institute (PCI), and Chen Gang, the Secretary General of BRIGC. The signing was witnessed by Dr Shezra Mansab Ali Kharal, Minister of State for Climate Change of Pakistan, and Zhao Yingmin, Former Vice Minister of China’s Ministry of Ecology and Environment.
Speaking to the media, Mustafa Sayed described the timing of the MoU as significant, “as it comes on the eve of the major CoP-30 conference in Brazil next month.” He added that the MoU “is also a recognition of the key role played by the Pakistan-China Institute to promote Green Development in Pakistan, particularly in CPEC.”
He stated, “Since CPEC is the flagship of the BRI, this initiative will be a major plus for the Green Development of CPEC, especially now in its second phase.”
