ISLAMABAD, Jul 24 (NNI): Secretary Ministry of Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Syed Zafar Ali Shah on Monday said the international community was showing keen interest to participate in the projects being executed under the CPEC, a strategic principal component of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
“. . . The CPEC is an enormous success and now the world is showing interest in its projects . . .,” he expressed these views while talking to a state run news agency on the sidelines of the two-day international conference that started here.
The conference titled “Decade of China- Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and Belt & Road Initiative (BRI): From Vision To Reality,” is being organized by the Ministry of Planning, Development and Special Initiatives in collaboration with the Embassy of the Republic of China.
The secretary gave all credit to Chinese and Pakistani leadership for taking the CPEC to an unprecedented level of regional connectivity and economic prosperity through a decade-long struggle.
Zafar Ali Shah said the two-day conference had assembled international-level experts from China and Pakistan who would participate in different sessions, exchanging their expertise and ideas while discussing all aspects of the CPEC.
During the last one year, he said the incumbent government revived a number of projects, especially in Gwadar deep seaport including water supply, laying of electricity transmission lines, setting up a university, vocational training centre and an international airport that remained neglected in the tenure of the past regime. “We have brought a number of development projects in Balochistan and Gwadar near to completion this year,” he added.
He reiterated the government’s firm resolve that priority was being given to locals in the development projects being carried out in parts of Balochistan including the Gwadar deep seaport, an ultimate destination of the CPEC.
Under an initiative for the socioeconomic uplift of local communities, he said the government had acquired 3200 boat engines for local fishermen aimed at facilitating them in earning their livelihood. NNI
