Third-country participation in CPEC to diversify CPEC portfolio: Ambassador Haque

BEIJING, February 17 — Pakistan welcomes other countries to participate in the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a major project under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), as it is not only beneficial for Pakistan, but for the whole region, Pakistan’s ambassador to China, Moin ul Haque, said on Wednesday.

“CPEC has now opened with the consensus of Pakistan and China for participation in third countries, and we welcome other countries to participate in this transformation project,” he said in an interview with Phoenix TV.

On the accession of regional countries to the CPEC, he said that Afghanistan is already participating. Recently, a shipment from Afghanistan was cleared from Gwadar port.
He said infrastructure and connectivity projects could also take place between Pakistan, China and Afghanistan and stressed that it would also help peace and stability in Afghanistan.

Ambassador Haque said India had never accepted and never joined the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) launched by Chinese President Xi Jinping.

He updated on CPEC, and it went very smoothly and steadily, adding: ‘We have completed the early harvest phase in which we focused on infrastructure and energy projects and the development of Gwadar port, which helped Pakistan not only its path upgrade and communications network, but it has helped Pakistan address the acute shortage of electricity ”. ??

In the energy sector, he said nine US $ 18 billion projects have been completed, which have injected 5,300 MW of electricity into the national grid, and three more 3,000 MW electricity projects are in the pipeline that is essential for industry and consumers and general household.

In the second phase, we focus on the areas that affect people that he said and added: the BRI as a whole project is a people-centered project, as it has been adopted by 130 countries because it is development-oriented and helps people to make a living. to bring new jobs and opportunities and upgrade infrastructure, and the CPEC does the same.
Ambassador Haque said CPEC helped develop remote areas in Pakistan, create jobs and upgrade the skills of the people.

He said that agricultural and socio-economic development is a very important part of the CPEC Phase II, and is therefore fully in line with the development agenda of the Pakistani government.

He described the partnership and relationship between Pakistan and China as a factor of peace and stability in the region, saying that the relationship between Pakistan and China is unique and special, and in thick or thin, rain or shine, the two countries have always stood together. “That’s why we call it all strategic partnership again.” ??

He said that this relationship was constant regardless of the changes of any governments in the two countries and regardless of the changes in any regional or international development. It is thus the testimony of successive leadership, successive generations of people who have given this relationship a new and meaningful meaning.

Ambassador Haque said that this year marks the 70th anniversary of the establishment of the bilateral relationship between Pakistan and China, a very important milestone for our two countries.

He said that every phase of our relationship is important during the last 70 years, which gives a new life force in our relationship. In 1951, we established diplomatic relations. The first high level contact between our two countries was in 1955 and Prime Minister Zhou En Lai met our then Prime Minister Muhammad Ali Bogra in Bandung, Indonesia.

The first contact laid the foundation for future relations when Prime Minister Zhou En Lai visited Pakistan next year and the people of Pakistan were impressed by his gentleness, simplicity and charisma and very positive prospects for future relations.
He said that Prime Minister Zho En Lai had visited Pakistan four times later and that he had become a household name in Pakistan.

He said Pakistan and China had signed a border agreement and that it was a time when cross-border questions led to conflict. During the war with India in 1965, China stood wholeheartedly with Pakistan, and that was the time when political relationship was transformed in the hearts of people in love.

In the 1970s, Pakistan played a key role in bringing China and the USA closer and this changed the dynamics of the Cold War at that time.

Ambassador Haque said that at the beginning of this century there was a very important development in the cooperation of the civilian nuclear energy field between the two countries. China has helped Pakistan set up very important nuclear power plants such as Chashma-1 and Chasham-2, and now Pakistan has four such nuclear power plants contributing to address our energy needs.

Recently, when President Xi Jinping visited Pakistan in April 2015, the relationship between the two countries to all strategic partners for the weather has been elevated, he added.

“The visit added a new dimension to our relationship and it was the most important visit that Pakistan has arranged in many years.” ??

Asked about the Covid-19 pandemic, he said it was an unprecedented health crisis facing the entire world community, and Pakistan was also affected, but by a prudent government policy, such as smart locks and caring for the poor sections of society and trying to keep the economic activities going, this strategy worked.
“We were able to control the pandemic to a large extent. “Now we are going through a second pandemic and the government is taking measures to control it as well,” he added.

The appreciation for the preventive and control measures adopted by China to fight the pandemic is, according to him, the way in which the Chinese government and people have controlled this pandemic.

On his future plans, he said there are some areas where the two countries can do more in economic proportion. ‘We launched FTA Phase II, but due to the Covid-19 we could not fully implement it. I will work to promote trade between the two countries ”. ??

Under the CPEC framework, he said the two countries could improve cooperation in agriculture, science and technology, vocational training, poverty alleviation and tourism.
He said efforts are being made to elevate people to contact with people and cultural exchanges. Last year in October, a well-received Pakistani movie was shown after 45 years in China.

He pointed out that both countries are taking concrete steps to improve tourism, and invited Chinese tourists to visit Pakistan and explore its beautiful places and culture.
“We have developed a Chinese website to promote tourism between Pakistan and China, and we will launch it soon,” he said.