Pakistan to further strengthen strategic partnership with China: Planning Minister

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal said the country would further strengthen relations with its strategic partners including China to boost the economic development of Pakistan.

Addressing a conference organised by the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE), the minister said China brought investment to Pakistan in the hardest of times under the framework of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a flagship project of its Belt and Road Initiative.

“When no one in the world was ready to invest even a single penny in Pakistan, China came forward and made investments worth billions of dollars under CPEC, bringing socio-economic development for the country,” the minister said.

Iqbal said Pakistan is taking special measures to make the most of CPEC, adding that the pace of work on the CPEC projects is being accelerated for their early implementation.

Commending China’s model of economic development, he said the achievements made by China over the last few decades are extremely remarkable and Pakistan should learn from them.

To be able to develop economically, the minister further said that Pakistan needed to maintain political stability, continuity of policies and rule of law, viewed as common traits among the countries that were developing fast.