‘Afghanistan’s inclusion in CPEC will be welcome development’

ISLAMABAD: Director Chinese Study Centre, National University of Science & Technology Syed Hassan Javed has said that inclusion of Afghanistan’s into CPEC would be a welcoming development since China will serve as the stabilising factor in Afghanistan.

Javed was speaking at a webinar on “Regional integration and CPEC: the case of Gwadar Port” organised by Institute of Regional Studies (IRS) here Monday.Javed shrugged off the impression that Chabahar and Gwadar, Dubai, and Dammam were the strategic rivals. He was of the view that those ports were complimentary to CPEC, which he called the “sister ports of CPEC.” He said that Pakistan needs to work on greater integration of locals, private sectors as well as overseas Pakistanis into the CPEC projects. He stressed the need to adopt an innovative approach for the second phase of CPEC to untap huge multi-sectoral potentials between the two countries.

While comparing the Chinese investments in Pakistan with the West, Javed said that Chinese direct investment stood very high in comparison to western and eastern countries’ investments altogether. In another comparison of port capacity, he said that Gwadar Port alone can handle load up to 400 million tons of cargo annually once it was completely operationalised, adding that ‘it was almost near to India’s total capacity of all ports’.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Mir Sadaat Baloch from University of Balochistan called for inclusion of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, and Gilgit Baltistan into the CEPC projects, adding that manufacturing, information, and communication technology also need to be incorporated in the second phase. In terms of establishing the Economic Zones, he said, “We were lagging as we were only able to operationalise the one zone so far.”

He regretted losing energy-related projects in the CPEC which he thought were the backbone of CPEC. He was of the view that the shortcomings of the first phase had actually led us to the IMF, adding that in the second phase, the focus should be towards local participations wherein he suggested giving contracts to the local enterprises. He also said that we need to invest in enhancing labour skills which he argued were crucial for the success of CPEC projects and equally important for social integration and public support.

In his closing remarks, he called the regional integration process to be policy-oriented rather idiosyncratic.Major Gen (R) Shamraiz Malik, former DG, Institute for Strategic Studies, Research and Analysis National Defence University, pointed out the battle of ports in the Indian Ocean. Since the region was shifting from Indian centrality to Chinese centrality there was a battle of ports going on in the Indian Ocean where China acquired 15 ports and India 9 so far, he said.

He apprised audience about India’s “Necklace of Diamonds” strategy in contrast to the Chinese “Spring of Pearls” to encircle China’s assertiveness in the Indian Ocean. He was of the view that the CPEC was not just about building a network of roads rather it was bringing regional connectivity, integration of civilisations, cultural exchanges, and sharing of resources.Nabila Jaffer from IRS presented closing remarks in the end.