Former Pakistani PM says neighboring countries to benefit from China’s new five-year plan

Former Prime Minister of Pakistan Anwar-ul-Haq Kakar said China’s new Five-Year Plan will unleash fresh opportunities for neighboring countries when speaking with China Media Group in Beijing during his recent visit to China. Kakar spoke highly of a recently adopted recommendations document which outlines priorities in China’s next five-year blueprint.

In October 2025, the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) concluded with the adoption of the Recommendations of the CPC Central Committee for Formulating the 15th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development, which set China’s strategic course for 2026 to 2030, a vital period linking past achievements with the milestone of basically achieving socialist modernization by 2035. Kakar noted that the people-centered approach reflected in the recommendations could serve as good reference for Pakistan.

“All these sectors and these areas which have been identified in the Five-Year Plan, where the goals have been set to achieve. Of course the well-being of the people is at the foremost of the Chinese approach and thinking. And this is a learning lesson for Pakistan as well. That for domestic stability, for internal stability, the happiness of the population is the utmost important goal. Unless you achieve that, any governance system or structure will not be workable. When you realize that your entire economic policy, your tax regime, your innovation, your technologies, they revolve around the idea of human happiness, that becomes the core value,” he said.

China is eying further high-standard opening-up and new horizons for mutually beneficial cooperation, as reflected in the recommendations. Kakar believes a wide range of sectors will stand to benefit from China’s new Five-Year Plan.

“We feel that there are many windows which are being opened, in the manner the Chinese side are investing in its research and development, in diversified areas, is an amazing phenomenon. This is something which the [neighboring countries like] Pakistan and other players can benefit from, from pharmaceuticals to agriculture to fisheries, livestock, you name it,” said Kakar.