China is poised to develop five distinct corridors to construct an enhanced version of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) as reported in APP on Tuesday (March 19).
China has commended Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s optimistic stance on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), expressing readiness to collaborate with Pakistan in upgrading the project and during a regular briefing, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lin Jian highlighted their intention to work together to establish various corridors within the CPEC framework. These corridors, including growth, livelihood, innovation, green, and open corridors, aim to deliver greater benefits to both nations.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif last week, talking to Chinese Ambassador Jiang Zaidon in Islamabad stressed that Pakistan was keen to move to the next phase of CPEC, including the operationalization of the Special Economic Zones (SEZs) to facilitate Chinese investment in Pakistan.
In an interview with Xinhua, China’s state-run news agency, Prime Minister Shehbaz said Pakistan was now ready to move towards the second phase of CPEC to promote technological development and agriculture through the corridor.
While commending PM Shehbaz Sharif’s positive remarks, the spokesperson said that the CPEC is an important flagship project of the Belt and Road Initiative.
Launched in 2013, the CPEC, a flagship project of the China-sponsored Belt and Road Initiative, is a corridor linking the Gwadar Port in southwestern Pakistan with Kashgar in northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, which highlights energy, transport and industrial cooperation. The CPEC has brought Pakistan direct investment totaling over 25 billion US dollars over the past decade. The corridor also created many job opportunities in Pakistan.