Pakistan and China to work together to expedite work on CPEC projects: Planning Minister

Islamabad: Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Ahsan Iqbal has said that Pakistan and China will work together to expedite work on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects.

“The new coalition government will actively engage China to speed up various projects under the CPEC,” he remarked while speaking to journalists here at the National Centre for Artificial Intelligence at the National University of Science and Technology (NUST).

Iqbal maintained that Pakistan needed to work more closely with China to complete the CPEC projects that were facing delays.

“The government’s top priority is to strengthen the country’s economy as it is the only prerequisite for its sovereignty,” he contended.

The minister recalled that he had inaugurated the centre in 2018 to prepare the youth to use the latest technologies.

“The artificial intelligence, automatic robotics, big data cloud, cybersecurity and applied mathematics are the driver sectors of the fourth generation industrial revolution, and the youth could apply their skills in those sectors globally,’ Iqbal mentioned.

In the next few years, he said “we will train some 100,000 youth in these skills so that they can become part of the global digital intelligence.”

He said it was unfortunate that the Higher Education Commission (HEC) was neglected during the previous government. He expressed the resolve to restore the Commission’s autonomy, along with its funding.

To a question, the minister said although the coalition government had not a full term of five years, it still is a big blessing as it would be easy to build consensus over national reforms.

He mentioned that soon after the coalition government took charge, the country’s stock exchange showed a positive response while the value of Pakistani rupee also strengthened against the US dollar.

Iqbal said as all parties of Balochistan were part of the government and it was a big opportunity that the long standing issues of the province should be resolved amicably.

He informed that the government had formed a committee in the parliament to start the electoral reforms’ process. “First we will make sure that the electoral reforms are done and then we will think about the new elections,” he underscored.

Iqbal noted that this was a constitutional requirement to complete the delimitation process and for that the Election Commission of Pakistan required around six to seven months.