Islamabad: China’s Charge d’ Affaires Lijian Zhao in a conference held on Monday to talk about Chinese experience in sustainable development, said industrialization was the only path to development for Pakistan.
As reported in local media, Lijian said Pakistan can catch-up with China and is only 13 years behind it. This conference was held amidst the kick-off the second stage of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.
A team of Chinese experts has arrived to hold talks with Pakistan to chalk out plans for implementation of second stage of CPEC, which would include cooperation on industrial front and setting up of prioritized Special Economic Zones (SEZs) within the country.
Lijian said it had been a prerequisite for removing obstacles in energy and infrastructure to pave way for industrial cooperation. He added due to loadshedding and lack of infrastructure, it was difficult to initiate industrial cooperation and expressed hope that loadshedding could come to an end by next month.
While talking about Karachi Circular Railway project, Lijian said it would be placed before CPEC Joint-Cooperation Committee (JCC) for final go-ahead.
The sixth CPEC JCC meeting had decided to bring in nine SEZs in the CPEC framework and the job of Expert Group of Industry was to execute the consensus reached during the meeting in Beijing, said Lijian.
Due to CPEC, Pakistan had become the largest hotbed of investment for China, constituting half of the country’s total investment said Lijian. For the third year running, China has remained Pakistan’s largest trading partner, which is a first.
He narrated about how China had missed the globalization boat for over 20 years and said China’s experience could come in handy for Pakistan’s industrial ambitions.
Lijian highlighted that only 13 years ago, China’s per capita income had stood at $1,300 which was achieved by Pakistan this year and meant the country was only 13 years behind it.
