Third-party participation to turn CPEC into a multilateral, regional cooperation project

BEIJING: The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) initially a bilateral cooperation project between China and Pakistan, is now gradually developing into an important multilateral and regional cooperation project.

On December 25, 2020, the second meeting of CPEC International Cooperation and Coordination Working Group was held in Urumqi, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China.

The first meeting of the working group was held on April 9, 2019, Cheng Xizhong, a visiting professor at Southwest University of Political Science and Law said in his article published by China Economic Net (CEN) on Monday.

“Since the establishment of this meeting mechanism, I have taken particular note of the term ‘International Cooperation and Coordination’. As I understand, the CPEC is the pilot project of the Belt and Road”, he said.

Through this CPEC platform, the Belt and Road cooperation might extend to the whole region of South Asia, as well as Central Asia, West Asia, the Middle East, Africa and even more distant places, he added.

Therefore, at the second meeting of the International Cooperation and Coordination Working Group, the two sides reiterated that the CPEC is an open and inclusive initiative, upholding the principles of extensive consultation, joint construction and sharing, and would carry out the corridor construction cooperation with the third parties on the basis of consensus and full demonstration between China and Pakistan, he added.

The second meeting was very fruitful and the two sides reached at a high degree of consensus on promoting the next phase of the CPEC construction.

He said, both sides agreed that close cooperation and mutual assistance between the two countries during the fight against the novel coronavirus pneumonia has injected fresh momentum into the corridor construction.

The two sides reiterated that the CPEC would focus on industries, agriculture, science and technology, and people’s livelihood, and expand to underdeveloped areas.

Recently, the final Take-Over Certificate (TOC) issuing ceremony of Peshawar-Karachi Motorway (PKM) Project (Sukkur-Multan section) was held in Multan, marking a formal opening to traffic and a perfect implementation of the project.

This is a microcosm of the successful rise of the CPEC development against the trend despite the unprecedented impact of COVID-19.

According to the Chinese authorities, making ensure the effective pandemic prevention and health of more than 26,700 Chinese and Pakistani employees on the construction sites, the construction and operation of all the 70 projects under the framework of CPEC have not been affected.

At the same time, Gwadar Port, transportation infrastructure, energy, industry and other fields have made a series of significant progress.

In terms of coordinating the pandemic prevention and resuming production successfully, CPEC has now become a benchmark for all major Belt and Road projects, fully embodying the true meaning of joint construction and sharing, and fully demonstrating the strong vitality and bright prospects of the joint development of the Belt and Road to the whole world.