Pakistan’s Ambassador to China Khalil Hashmi said on Sunday he saw the situation in Pakistan after investments and work under the multi-billion dollar corridor project as “a glass half-full”.
“There are reasons for it,” he told reporters in Balochistan’s Gwadar where he was on a visit. It was his second in the port city which is often mentioned as the heart of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.
This year the two countries celebrated a decade of CPEC. Islamabad has so far received $25.4 billion in direct Chinese investment in various transport, energy, and infrastructure schemes under the corridor project, part of Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative.
In October, Chinese Ambassador Jiang Zaidong told Aaj News that China was all set to work with Pakistan in the new decade of the CPEC to thoroughly implement the important consensus between President Xi Jinping and Pakistani leaders adhering to the principles of higher standards.
Hashmi supported his ‘glass half-full’ statement by describing CPEC as a “pioneering project” of the BRI. It was the first and most successful project of the BRI, he added.
“If you see BRI forum proceedings, you will see that this project has been most successful,” the envoy said and stated that most of the focus was on transport infrastructure, energy, and to some extent the port infrastructure over the past 10 years.
To some extent, he said industrial cooperation and other things were also done.
While speaking about the $62 billion potential of CPEC, he said that almost $25 billion to $26 billion of investment has been made under the connectivity project that started in 2013.
He was of the view that the infrastructure of energy and transport were the two most important things for industrial and economic growth. According to Hashmi, such two things have been completed.
For this reason, the envoy stated that the base was ready and different priorities related to industrial and agricultural cooperation, information communication technology, and minerals have been set for the next phase.
“This base related to transport and energy was very necessary. If you don’t have such an infrastructure and electricity, then none of the industries can run,” he said.
He agreed with a query related to the lack of students from Gwadar studying in China on scholarship and can operate the port in the future.
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“Not just, it is needed but further work has to be done on this. I had a discussion with the Gwadar Port Authority chairman on this and there is a pact with Shandong province. It has been reached at this level that some students are sent there to have training and attain skills needed here,” Hashmi said.
In the first phase, the envoy said that it has to be made successful and in the second phase the number of students has to be increased. But he called for searching for more opportunities to give more skills to students.
While mentioning that more than 90% of people are involved in the fishery sector, he said that many skills in the field could be attained to increase the business and income level. He added that students could also learn marine sciences.
