Pakistan to fill farm tech gaps with Chinese expertise

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan will engage China to lift its agriculture sector by taking advantage of World’s largest producer’s advancement in farming technologies to boost the country’s agrarian economy through China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects.

It was stated by Khalid Mansoor, the newly appointed Special Assistant to Prime Minister on CPEC Affairs, while addressing Chinese media.

He said CPEC, a flagship project of the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), was critical for the economic revival of Pakistan.

“CPEC's Phase II will be developing an industrial hub in the country, providing many opportunities for local and foreign investors.”

Underlining the importance of CPEC for uplifting the country’s agriculture sector, Mansoor said Pakistan was an agricultural country and its economic growth was dependent on the development of the agriculture sector.

“There are several areas where we can benefit from the excellent research and experience of Chinese agricultural sector, for improving the quality of the seed, and then benefiting from the research and development to improve our yield, and to improve and modernise our mechanical cultivation and harvesting.”

He said Pakistan was also working on upgrading its livestock sector and enhancing its meat exports, which could all be expected to achieve with the cooperation of China. Talking about the commitment of the two countries to make CPEC a green corridor, the official said they would be growing a number of trees along the CPEC route and “we want to make sure that as the industrial hubs increase they do not pose threat to people's health living around them and also those industries are not polluting the environment by producing emissions”.

Coal power plants working under CPEC in Pakistan were making sure they used state-of-the-art technology to meet world standards in emissions, removing the apprehensions that they were hazardous to the environment, he said.

The official said the common people of Pakistan were the ultimate beneficiaries of the CPEC projects.

“We believe wherever we are putting our industry, the adjoining community should fully benefit... Projects are underway, which are going to be improving their health, their education, their livelihood, so specific projects are being developed and there are several projects which are in the implementation stage with the help of China's grant, including vocational institute, the hospital, the international airport, etc” Mansoor added. Apart from job opportunities and livelihood prospects, CPEC was also solving the daily life problems of people, he said, citing the example of the country's southwest Gwadar district where people had a shortage of clean drinking water and electricity.

"So, we are working very closely with the authorities like Gwadar Development Authority, Gwadar Port Authority, and the Chinese company to make sure all sorts of facilitations are being provided to residents of Gwadar.”

The Special Assistant said in the phase two, huge job opportunities would be created for people and special importance would be attached to their skill enhancement and for that purpose, vocational training institutes would be constructed in special economic zones.

“The strategy is the unskilled people are going to be trained and hired in the project activity and thereafter, they will get opportunities to earn and support their families.”

On the role of the BRI in Pak-Afghan cooperation, Mansoor said BRI would unfold a lot of economic opportunities for landlocked Afghanistan, which would get the chance to enhance its exports through regional connectivity offered by the BRI.

“The BRI has got a clear-cut mandate for the regional connectivity, whether it is in Afghanistan or other neighboring countries," he said, adding that CPEC phase two would not only bring revolution to Pakistan but also benefit Afghanistan.

He said due to CPEC's special economic zones, Pakistan was going to become a major manufacturing hub, which would not only uplift it economy, but also create huge opportunities for Afghanistan to rebuild and revive its economy.

“Afghanistan is a landlocked country, so it will have to depend on Pakistan for its needs in terms of importing and exporting. So we believe this regional connectivity through the BRI will be really providing opportunities for us to develop further ties with our brotherly country Afghanistan and also providing the mutual opportunities for the growth of the economy in Afghanistan and Pakistan,” the Special Assistant added.