ISLAMABAD: The 11th meeting of the Joint Coordination Committee (JCC) on China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is likely to meet next month for which concerned joint groups have prepared a list of projects to be discussed.
In this regard, a meeting on Tuesday at the Ministry of Planning Development and Special Initiatives was held to review the progress made in preparation for the JCC meeting. The meeting was chaired by Federal Minister for Planning Development and Special Initiatives Ahsan Iqbal. Provincial governments, special regions’ P&D departments, as well as other relevant stakeholders from across the country attended the meeting both inj person and virtually.
According to officials privy to the development, various projects including three energy projects were finalised for presentation in the next JCC during the meeting.
The Power Division highlighted the agenda for the forthcoming 9th joint energy working group meeting scheduled to be held in the first week of August. It was informed that projects including the 1124 MW Kohala project, 700.7 MW Azad Pattan HPPs and 1320 MW Thar Coal Power Plant will be taken up with the Chinese side in the upcoming working group’s meeting. The division informed that a joint study for the future development of Thar coal plant has also been made part of the agenda.
The ministry underlined the measures taken to provide sufficient power for Gwadar and stressed the need for renewable energy projects for the city’s development in the future.
Officials informed Profit that the meeting also discussed projects related to the agriculture and socio-economic sectors.
In the agricultural sector, it was underlined that China’s expanding agricultural market provides significant potential for Pakistani exports. Modernisation and mechanisation of agriculture in Pakistan should be carried out in the context of CPEC in addition to taking other measures to enable agricultural development and tap into the Chinese market for mutual benefit of the two countries. FMD and quarantine issues were explicitly emphasised as important hurdles in meat export to the neighbouring country by a representative from the Ministry of National Food Security, who informed the chair that they are being addressed on priority with Chinese assistance.
Similarly, the Ministry of Information Technology & Telecommunications (IC&T) briefed the meeting on the agenda of the forthcoming 2nd JWG meeting on IT with a focus on ICT infrastructure development, policy & regulations, human resource development, and cyber security.
The Minister for Planning stressed the need for cooperation with China in the IT sector, adding that China has emerged as the leader in artificial intelligence (AI), and cooperation with the country in this field can be enormously promising for Pakistan.
Moreover, Foreign Secretary Sohail Mahmood gave a detailed briefing on the 3rd International Cooperation & Coordination Joint Working Group (JWG) meeting held virtually on July 22.
He was quoted as saying that China appreciates Pakistan’s efforts to provide a safe and smooth business environment and the Pakistani leadership’s commitment to building CPEC at “Pakistan speed”.
The JWG meeting also Third-party participation and extension of CPEC to Afghanistan. It was pointed out that cooperation between thematic think tanks on both sides should be encouraged to further deepen the strategic economic cooperation under CPEC.
The minister also apprised the meeting of the activities planned to promote the CPEC narrative at both national & global levels.
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