LAHORE
A high-level delegation of the private sector, on Saturday left for Thimpu (Bhutan) to represent Pakistan in the forthcoming 70th executive committee meeting of SAARC Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Talking to media prior to departure, the leader of the delegation SAARC Chamber and Chairman United Business Group Vice President Iftikhar Ali Malik, said the distinctive features of the CPEC will also be highlighted during the deliberations, besides the briefing to the participants on regional issues confronting the South Asian countries.
He said China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) would act as a trade bridge between South Asia, Middle East and Europe by building roads, railways and, consequently, the enhance trade potential of the region.
He said CPEC is a geoeconomic project, with economic implications not just for China and Pakistan, but will also indirectly benefit other countries, those which are not part of the $ 46 billion investment.
This economic corridor will benefit from new emerging regional cooperation in South Asia besides transforming the future of the region, driven by economy and energy, and the building of pipelines and ports with roads and rail infrastructure.
He said the geoeconomic dictates suggest maximum radiation of CPEC economic flows in the South Asian region. It would link the two largest economies of the belt, China and India. “The absence of this link restricts India-China trade to $ 71 billion and India-Pakistan trade to $ 2 billion. The absence of the link with India seriously constrains the trade volumes of other SAARC members. Their dividend would remain limited unless India fully partakes of CPEC,” he added.
However, answering a question, Iftikhar Ali Malik said goods from the landlocked Bhutan and Nepal cannot access the Pakistani markets through the shorter land route passing through India. “These countries cannot transit their goods through Pakistan to Central Asia and China. Similarly, Bangladesh cannot access the shorter land route through India to Pakistan and onward to China or West Asia, North Africa and Gulf states,” adding which, he said the island nations of Maldives and Sri Lanka can, of course, reach China through Gwadar.
Bhutan and Nepal can directly link with China, while Bangladesh lies on the Southwestern route of the Silk Road linking it with Kinmin in Yunnan province of China.
President, senior vice presidents and all the 8 vice presidents along with members of the executive committee from Pakistan, India, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Afghanistan Bhutan and Nepal, would also participate to get first-hand information about benefits and opportunities to exploit these to own advantage during and after completion of CPEC Project, he concluded.
It would be interesting to see who are in the Delegation! Modi must be kept in picture.