People-to-people contact will make CPEC a win-win project: NA Speaker

Islamabad: Pakistani National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervez Ashraf has said that people-to-people contact will make China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) a win-win project.

Addressing the 7th CPEC Media Forum, jointly organized by the Pakistan-China Institute and the Chinese Embassy in Pakistan, he maintained that the media can bring the people of both countries closer than ever before.

Ashraf urged the media to highlight the benefits of CPEC as it was crucial, especially in the context of false propaganda against it. The negative propaganda against CPEC demands strong and deep contact between people of both countries,” he added.

The Speaker mentioned that the Pakistan-China friendship owed its foundation to Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who signed the first boundary agreement with China back in 1963.

“It had now become the cornerstone of Pakistan’s foreign policy, as Bilawal Bhutto Zardari soon after taking oath as the youngest Foreign Minister of Pakistan, had his first official bilateral visit to China,” he noted.

He reiterated that Pakistan-China friendship was higher than the Himalayas and would continue to play its role for regional development especially by executing all projects of CPEC.

While mentioning the magnanimity of CPEC for the socio-economic development of the region, he contended that it had always been supported with full vigor by all successive governments in Pakistan.

He observed that Gwadar was the most important pillar of the CPEC project, and its development had transformed and connected the whole region.

Gwadar, he added, had now become the hub of trade and connectivity due to China’s earnest policy for its development. Hydropower projects under CPEC would lessen the energy crisis in Pakistan, he stated.

The NA speaker stressed that it was the need of hour to dispel the misinformation and disinformation, which was being propagated against CPEC projects in Pakistan.

He said the parliamentary ownership was pivotal to carrying out CPEC projects. The Parliamentary Committee on CPEC was overseeing their fast completion, and it would continue to provide parliamentary ownership to CPEC, he added.

PCI chief Senator Musahid Hussain especially appreciated the Speaker’s participation in the event. He also talked about CPEC as being a catalyst for regional development.