Pakistani army chief, Chinese envoy discus CPEC progress ahead of JCC meeting
Rawalpindi: Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan Yao Jing called on Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa at the General Headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi to discuss the progress of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects ahead of the CPEC Joint Cooperation Committee (JCC) next week.
“During the meeting, matters of mutual interest, regional security situation, bilateral cooperation in various fields and update on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) were discussed,” military’s media wing – the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) – said in a statement.
The army chief thanked the envoy for “unwavering Chinese support” extended to Pakistan during testing times of pandemic.
Ambassador Yao appreciated and acknowledged Pakistan’s positive role in the region and pledged to play his role for further improvement in diplomatic cooperation between both countries.
Meanwhile, the delayed 10th meeting of CPEC JCC is scheduled to be held held on Tuesday, July 13.
Earlier, Chinese Ambassador Nong Rong, while speaking at the concluding session of a conference titled, ‘Pakistan-China At 70: Vision for the Future’, which had been hosted by the Pakistan-China Institute (PCI), said: “I am very happy to brief you that the 10th Joint Cooperation Committee meeting of the CPEC will be held this month.”
JCC is the top decision-making body of CPEC, which usually meets on annual basis. The committee’s sessions are co-chaired by Pakistan’s federal minister of planning, development, and special initiatives and the vice chairman of China’s National Development and Reform Commission.
Its last meeting, the ninth in the series, was held in Islamabad in November 2019. The 10th meeting has, therefore, been delayed by at least a few months reportedly because of non-finalisation of the agenda for the meeting and delays in completion of the working group’s meetings.
The committee has several working groups placed under it, which meet between JCC sessions, and prepare recommendations for the main committee.
“China will uphold principles of mutual benefit and win-win, openness and inclusiveness, to cooperate with Pakistan to promote CPEC construction with high quality, to help Pakistan advance industrialisation, urbanisation and digitisation, and realise the vision of ‘Naya (new) Pakistan’ at an early date,” Ambassador Rong said
