CPEC vital for Pakistan’s economic future: Haque

BEIJING: Pakistan’s ambassador to China Moin ul Haque has said that China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) will play a vital role in future economic development of the country, with Gwadar port as a main component.

"The CPEC is one of the most important flagship projects of the five corridors launched under Belt and Road Initiative. Half of its projects have already been executed,” he said in an interview. The ambassador said under first phase of the CPEC, several major energy project including hydro, wind and solar projects were executed.

"The second component of the CPEC is infrastructure, highways, waterways and bridges, which have been built across Pakistan, improving the communication and road infrastructure,” he added.

The important part of physical infrastructure was laying the fiber optic link from Chinese border to Pakistan to help the communication network, he said, adding, the third important component of the first phase was Gwadar port, which is almost complete and functional. Regarding other infrastructure projects, he said East Bay Express was inaugurated and work was under progress on an International airport.

About special Economic Zone being set up in Gwadar, he said, a large number of Chinese companies were setting their businesses there.

The country was entering into phase two, which was even more important and focused on industrialisation, agriculture, social well-being of the people, poverty alleviation and green economy. "We have also launched recently China-Pakistan healthcare corridor, digital corridor, green corridor.”

Under green corridor, the country is focusing on the agriculture and food security, while in digital corridor, it is benefiting from China’s experience and expertise in the IT sector and industry.

"The government is developing special economic zones and encouraging relocation of Chinese industries to Pakistan not only to help the domestic market, but also to the region and exporting to other countries," he added.