CPEC can serve as a case study for other BRI countries to follow: Executive Director, PCI

Executive Director Pakistan-China Institute (PCI), Mustafa Hyder Sayed while addressing as a panel speaker at Workshop Organized by WWF titled ‘ Sustainable Infrastructure & Greening the BRI’ said that PCI has been a strong advocate of promoting green projects and signed MoU with International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) back in 2015.

He remarked that post-COVID-19 biggest issues for countries will be the management of debt crisis and limited borrowing capacity. In addition to that, the unprecedented impact of COVID-19 will affect the prior agreements and push countries to reprioritize infrastructure projects. The focus will mainly be shifted to the health sector and save lives.

Talking about the way forward, ED PCI emphasized on the importance of ‘green credit,’ i.e. making money available and prioritizing those projects which promote green sustainable development. He further suggested that relevant bodies should promote the public-private partnerships which have been successfully implemented in various CPEC projects. One such example is the under-construction Karot Hydropower Project in which World-Bank affiliated International Finance Corporation (IFC) has 15% share, attesting that key CPEC project is in line with International standards and there are lots of lessons to be learned for other BRI countries from CPEC.