Beijing: Planning Minister Prof. Ahsan Iqbal said that Pakistan and China are fully committed to moving forward with the second phase of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and engagement with the new government. China’s top leaders try to define and define its parameters.
This is our first high-level engagement with a Chinese leader since the elections in Pakistan. Through this engagement, we are trying to identify and define the CPEC parameters that the Chinese side is ready to advance. Pakistan is also committed to progress, he said while interacting with Chinese media at the Pakistan Embassy in Beijing during his three-day visit to China.
Prof. Ahsan Iqbal said that in the meeting, the two sides discussed some priorities and low-level projects to start the second phase of CPEC and extend the cooperation from the first phase to the second phase.
Agriculture, industrial cooperation and technology transfer are very important for us, he said. We want to expand our cooperation to introduce new technologies in agriculture to increase the agricultural productivity of Pakistan.
Second, we aim to develop industrial cooperation. In particular, there is a strong case for moving Chinese industry to Pakistan, where labor costs are rising in China and Pakistan offers an attractive environment to move to the SEZs we are creating. It will also help the transition from an agricultural economy to an industrial economy,” he said.
The Minister said that one of the main and future goals for us is to take Pakistan from an agricultural to an industrial economy as quickly as possible. How we want to focus on exports and export-led growth in Pakistan during this industrialization.
So, we are looking for the technical assistance of Chinese experts not only to move to China, but also to develop exports and special economic zones that we know we want to benefit from. There will be more cooperation at the professional level to help Pakistan develop exports and special economic zones.
The third area is technology, as China has leadership and many new industrial transformation technologies, especially the artificial intelligence and IT sectors.
Pakistan’s IT sector is growing rapidly and can contribute to China’s digital initiatives. Similarly, China’s progress in artificial intelligence is very important because it is a new platform for the future and the digital economy.
He also informed that Pakistan is preparing a national action plan for the adoption of artificial intelligence, and we will also benefit greatly from China in this field.
Finally, we also want to expand our educational and technical exchange programs. About 27,000 students study in China.
We also want to further expand this cooperation and have more cooperation or bilateral agreements between Pakistani universities and Chinese universities to conduct joint research in Pakistan,” he said.
Prof. Ahsan Iqbal said that Pakistan should understand more about Chinese market. China imports about $2.7 trillion of goods from around the world. Pakistan’s share is only $3 billion. I think we can expand Pakistan’s market share in China from $3 billion to $30 billion.
Emphasizing the cooperation between Pakistani and Chinese entrepreneurs, he said that this is an important dimension that we see in the first and second phase of government-to-government cooperation, especially business-to-business cooperation and the transition to the private sector. . sectoral business cooperation between the two countries.
Answering questions about the security of Chinese citizens, he said that the security of Chinese citizens and the project has been strengthened. We are also trying to reduce their land travel from the project site. We operate a helicopter to give them extra security. We have also now increased security in terms of military and police support, as well as tightened SOPs and security protocols.
The minister said the government is working closely with Chinese businesses to train their employees to follow safety protocols. A special force of 12,000 soldiers has been deployed to monitor the Chinese-run projects. In addition, police and military forces also strengthen them.
