BEIJING: Ever since the launch of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) framework, cooperation between the two all-weather friends had increased manifold, said Pakistan Ambassador to China Masood Khalid on Tuesday.
“Now, the commencement of new projects in the agriculture sector under the CPEC would enhance economic development in Pakistan,” he said in a media interview ahead of Prime Minister Imran Khan’s official visit to China.
Masood Khalid lamented that Pakistan had not taken benefit from its agriculture sector, which was vital for its economy, adding that efforts were being made to introduce drip irrigation, mechanized farming and hybrid seeds for upgradation of the agriculture sector.
In the education sector, around 25,000 Pakistani students were studying Chinese language and other subjects in universities of China, he informed. “They are the true ambassadors of Pakistan and will play a key role in further cementing Pak-China relations in future,” he added.
The ambassador remarked that Pakistan and China had a long history of relations and the graph of their relationship was always growing, adding that both countries have multi-faceted cooperation in trade economy, finance, defence, security, science and technology, and agriculture.
Pakistan, he said, attached high hopes from the upcoming visit of Prime Minister Imran Khan, as the “country was passing through a difficult phase”.
He said that Pakistan needed to strengthen its economy and defence in view of current economic challenges and the regional situation with Afghanistan and India.
On the progress of CPEC, he informed that under this flagship project, 22 projects would be executed in different phases while few were already in the pipeline. Masood Khalid said that up to $19 billion of investment was committed by China, adding that when other projects would start, this investment would increase.
He said the projects under the CPEC had so far created 60,000 new jobs for people in Pakistan.
