CPEC a strategic vision as China wants Pakistan to grow: Ahsan Iqbal

Islamabad: Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Ahsan Iqbal has said that the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) was a strategic vision as China wants Pakistan to grow as an industrial economy.

“So under CPEC we are seeking to transform the structure of Pakistan economy from a low commodity agricultural economy to an industrial economy based on export-led growth,” he maintained in a statement.

The minister stressed that the government was fully supporting the CPEC and was committed to expedite work on its related projects.

He said the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz)-led government signed US $ 46 billion projects under CPEC back in 2013 when no one in the world was willing to bring investment in Pakistan due to law and order situation.

Pakistan, he mentioned, desperately needed investment in energy and infrastructure sectors. The minister informed that China invested US $ 29 billion in these sectors during the five years’ tenure (2013-18) of PML-N-led government.

He acknowledged that China also helped Pakistan utilizing its strategic reserves such as Thar Coal which are now producing thousands of Megawatts (MW) energy and contributing to the national grid.

Ahsan Iqbal pointed out that US $ 900 billion worth of investment from the developed world is seeking enabling business-friendly environment in the developing countries. However, “the investment can never come to a country where there is political chaos, polarization, and policy reversal”, he mentioned.

He compared that the annual Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Vietnam was about US $ 28-30 billion while in Pakistan in 2020 it was only US $ 1.2 billion.

“In 75 years of our history we never followed export-led growth policy, which is the reason we are lagged behind and could not grow,” he said adding where we stand now, we need an annual jump of 5 to 10 billion dollars in exports to ensure a sustainable growth.

He underlined that under the second phase of CPEC, “we have a plan to develop nine Special Economic Zones (SEZs) from 2020 to 2025.”

In 2017, he stated envoys from European Union (EU), Japan, UK and other countries came to him desiring to become partner with CPEC. “CPEC became Pakistan’s brand image but look what we have done,” he observed.

In the same year he said a large number of Chinese companies planned to open up their offices in Pakistan and “I was expecting that around $30-35 billion investment would come to Pakistan in next five years.”

But Ahsan Iqbal regretted that in 2018 when the PML-N government was replaced in elections, work on CPEC projects slowed down.

Ahsan Iqbal also extended gratitude to All Pakistan Chinese Enterprises Association (APECA) which has donated Rs 15.5 million to the Prime Minister’s Flood Relief Fund in the wake of recent floods disaster.

“This year, Pakistan has received above average rainfall in the monsoon season. Climate change has hit the country in a big way. We are one of the lowest carbon footprint producing country yet we are also among the top ten countries that are vulnerable to climate change,” said the Minister.

Iqbal remarked that China is all weather friend of Pakistan who always stand shoulder to shoulder whether its emergency or calamity or whether it is some economic crisis.

“Chinese enterprises realizing their social responsibility donated 15 Million to Prime Minister’s relief fund that speaks volume for the bonding between the two countries and acknowledgment of sufferings that people of flood hit areas have gone through,” he commented.