CPEC to be made a success: Chinese envoy

LAHORE: The Pakistan-China fraternity held the consensus at a seminar titled, “20th CPC congress; party, policy, prospects and impacts on Pak-China relations” organised by Institute of International Relations and Media Research (IIRMR) here Sunday.

Discussing the impacts of 20th CPC congress on Pak-China relations, Chinese consul general in Lahore Zhao Shiren said that China terms people of Pakistan real stakeholder besides government and Chinese leadership was ready to work jointly with every segment of society to let CPEC fortunes to trickle down to grass route level. On CPEC dismal activity and future momentum, he said it was not appropriate to blame anybody for CPEC slowdown because now CPEC had bounced back with its natural form and pace and all projects would be executed on fast-track to make CPEC a full-on successful story, he added.

At the time of conclusion of 20th Congress that has put the new leadership in place and solidified the party self-innovation outlining major policy initiatives both at domestic and foreign fronts, Mr Zhao announced that 2023 is to be marked as a year of China-Pakistan Year of Tourism and Exchange. In this regard, he said the Gandhara Art Exhibition would be held at the Palace Museum in Beijing to showcase Pakistan’s diverse culture and long history of interaction with China. With the gradual resumption of direct flights operation with more frequency, people-to-people exchanges between the two countries would surely become more active, he added. As 20th CPC Congress reaffirmed the commitments of the party and the country to world peace and common development, with dedication to promoting a human community with a shared future through the Belt and Road Initiative, Chinese consul general said that CPEC was going to be more mature and mulita-dimensional after induction of new concepts like health corridor, industrial corridor, digital corridor, and green corridor in the next phase.

He termed Congress impacts positive on the development of China-Pak relations, saying Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s successful maiden official visit to China right after the Party Congress as first head of government speaks volumes about the great importance attached to CPEC by the new Chinese leadership on China-Pakistan relations. “During the PM’s visit, both sides issued a joint statement and signed or concluded several agreements in wide areas. Leaders of the two countries reached an important consensus on the ML-1 project for its early implementation. China also agreed to actively advance the Karachi Circular Railway and encourage Chinese companies to participate in solar and other renewable energy projects,” he added.

China also announced, he said, to Pakistan an extra 500 million yuan in emergency assistance for post-disaster reconstruction, making the total aid of 1.16bn yuan (36bn rupees), ranking first among the helping countries. IIRMR chairman Muhammad Mehdi said that all countries definitely accepts influence from the surrounding conditions and when it comes to China, this situation is always pleasant. “While the recent 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China has expressed preferences of the Chinese people in front of the world. After Communist Revolution under the leadership of its great leader, Chairman Mao, poverty elimination and Chinese journey to become moderate prosperous country were another milestones achieved in the leadership of President Xi Jinping,” he said, adding “Pakistan should understand well that the importance of CPEC which also should be reflected in foreign and economic policies.