LAHORE  - Pak China Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCJCCI) President Shah Faisal Afridi said here Monday that Pak-China economic corridor would empower half of the world’s population living in Asia, by developing special trade routes between China and Pakistan.
Appreciating present government’s endeavors for implementing economic corridor project, he termed it the most important agreement signed between Pakistan and China till now, adding that it was future of the world because three billion people from China, South Asia and Central Asia would benefit from this corridor.
Afridi urged government to implement this project in a way that population of Pakistan at large was benefitted. “Pakistan’s prosperity is no more a longer journey as the current leadership is working diligently on such projects whose outcomes would be visible and bright in a shorter period of time,” he observed.
Recently China has commissioned a preliminary research study to construct an international rail link connecting its province Xinjiang’s border to Pakistan. According to Chinese officials, this new rail link, which runs through the Pamir Plateau and Karakorum mountains, would be one of the hardest to build. The proposal, when implemented, would re-open the economic artery blocked for years, he added.
President PCJCCI said, the federal government had announced six development schemes worth Rs 130 billion under the Pakistan-China Economic Corridor, marking the beginning of a process that would transform the country into a transit hub for the second largest economy of the world.
The reason behind this vital importance was that 60 percent of oil was being imported from gulf countries that reached China after covering the distance of 16,000 kilometres, he said, adding that after the completion of Gawadar Port project, the distance would reduce to 2500 kilometres only which was, from all aspects, more safe and feasible.
He affirmed that in the rapidly changing geo-strategic and security environment, both countries were likely to face many regional and global challenges. It was need of the hour that leadership of both countries should pace up work for cementing the traditional Sino-Pak relationship with an exclusive focus on the economic corridor project that would bring economic prosperity for Pakistan and underdeveloped western region of China as well, he said.