PM Imran Khan lauds China for lifting 700 million people out of poverty

BEIJING: Prime Minister Imran Khan Saturday highly appreciated the tremendous development of China and lifting of over 700 million people out of poverty within a short span of three decades.

He made these remarks while speaking at Leaders Roundtable of the second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation held here.

The thematic focus of the Roundtable was: “Boosting Connectivity to Explore New Sources of Growth.”

In his statement, the Prime Minister underscored the vital importance of greater connectivity among BRI participating countries and proposed four specific areas for particular focus including digital connectivity, mobility of labour, cultural connectivity and sharing best practices in knowledge and innovation.

To advance these proposals, among other things, the Prime Minister suggested setting up of BRI Tourism Corridor to improve labour skills and mobility and creating multi-lingual digital platforms.

Prime Minister Imran Khan emphasized that China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a transformational project, would play an important role in boosting connectivity between the Gwadar Port and Xinjiang region of China.

Reiterating Pakistan’s appreciation of President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative, the Prime Minister underlined that regional connectivity, resulting in enhanced cooperation and prosperity, would help find common solutions to longstanding problems.

The Leaders’ Roundtable was addressed by a large number of participating leaders including Russian Federation, Egypt, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Chile, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Singapore, Myanmar, Italy, Hungary, Singapore and Greece.