Country to take advantage of CPEC, boost infrastructure

Region develops its industries through foreign direct investment

Pakistan needs to use the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor to attract foreign direct investment and promote industrial development, the country's senior officials said.

Launched in 2013, the CPEC is a corridor linking Gwadar Port in southwestern Pakistan with Kashgar in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, which highlights energy, transport and industrial cooperation.

Shaukat Tarin, finance minister of Pakistan, said his country should take measures to boost the economy and attract FDI in the special economic zones being developed under the framework of the CPEC, which is a major goal of the government.

He said industrial cooperation with China in the second phase of the CPEC will not only create jobs, but generate business opportunities.

Many countries have enhanced their export by attracting FDI, which not only brought in money and increased the volume of exports but introduced new technology and novel ideas to the host countries, the finance minister said. He added Pakistan has to follow the same model to increase exports.

Tarin said that the information technology sector is important because its potential can be tapped. It can be a great player in increasing the size of the Pakistani economy, he predicted.

Asim Saleem Bajwa, chairman of Pakistan's CPEC Authority, said the country will start to reap the benefits in the form of industrial and agricultural development and better road connectivity.

Several roads are in their final phase, which are expected to be inaugurated in 2021.

After completion, locals will experience better connectivity and business opportunities in the country will increase, Bajwa said.

Regarding the special economic zones, the official said they are receiving many applications from local and foreign enterprises where the government is providing a one-window operation to assist investors.

In Allama Iqbal SEZ in Punjab province's Faisalabad city, investors from Canada, Britain and Germany have applied to set up joint ventures with local partners.

"Apart from them, Pakistani-American doctors along with some US doctors have approached us to establish a pharmaceutical sector in the SEZ," Bajwa said.

He added that efficient and corporate farming is going to be introduced for the first time in the country in cooperation with China under the CPEC.

"Model farms are going to be started on vast areas of land under the CPEC from the next crop season and a 25 percent enhancement in local yields is expected under the guidance of Chinese experts on the farms," he said. Bajwa said the second phase of the CPEC will contribute to poverty alleviation and GDP growth in Pakistan.

Xinhua - China Daily