Chinese companies contributing towards Pakistan’s progress: Senior Chinese diplomat

Lahore: Chinese Consul General in Lahore Peng Zhengwu has said the Chinese companies were contributing towards the progress and prosperity of Pakistan.

Peng Zhengwu pointed out that China was trying to attract Chinese small companies to work in the Special Economic Zones (SEZs) being developed in Pakistan under the China-Pakistan Economic Zones (CPEC).

In an interview here, the Chinese diplomat showed satisfaction with the pace of work on the CPEC projects in Pakistan.

Peng argued that there was nothing to worry about the pace of CPEC projects. The projects are advancing “just like everything develops in different stages,” he commented.

The diplomat maintained that at the first stage Chinese state companies came to Pakistan to build roads and other infrastructure and now China was attracting small companies to work in the SEZs. “This seems slower than before but actually everything is progressing. No problem,” he said. Asked why the pace of work had slowed down on CPEC projects, the consul general remarked that the smaller companies could not match the efficiency of the state-owned companies that worked on CPEC earlier.

He rejected the notion the state-owned Chinese companies were no longer interested in working on CPEC.

The senior Chinese diplomat contended that China believed in free competition and fair play “that’s why we are not worried too much” about any alliance.