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The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), one of the most ambitious components of Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative, was announced to great fanfare in 2015. Since then it has consistently been held up as a “gamechanger” for Pakistan’s economy. But the road to completion has proved long and winding. Reports indicate that the pace of CPEC projects has been slowing down in Pakistan in recent years.
At the same time, China is the only country that is heavily investing in Pakistan. The slowdown of CPEC thus does not augur well for a cash-strapped country like Pakistan, which is plagued by countless issues, some due to its own conceived policies.
A video explainer on China’s most ambitious Belt and Road Initiative project s CPEC.
On December 25, officials from China and Pakistan met in Urumqi for the second meeting of the Joint Working Group on International Cooperation and Coordination under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor or CPEC.
The meeting was aimed at taking stock of the CPEC as it turns five. CPEC is a clutch of projects with an estimated value of $62 billion.
It is China’s most ambitious Belt and Road Initiative project that aims to build a network of roads, railway lines and power projects throughout Pakistan.
It also aims at strengthening the economic ties between China and Pakistan. By the end of 2018, according to the Chinese government, 22 early harvest projects were completed or were under construction, with a total investment of $18.9 billion.
CPEC | The corridor of uncertainty
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Despite its limitations, the project is bolstering ties between China and Pakistan
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Despite its limitations, the project is bolstering ties between China and Pakistan
On December 25, officials from China and Pakistan met in Urumqi, the capital of China’s far western Xinjiang region, for the second meeting of the Joint Working Group on International Cooperation and Coordination (JWG) under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). Attended by China’s Vice Foreign Minister Luo Zhaohui and Pakistan’s Foreign Secretary Sohail Mahmood, the meeting was aimed at taking stock of the CPEC as it turns five. Both sides hailed the progress of the plan despite the pandemic, declaring that both countries’ “close cooperation and mutual support amid COVID-19 has laid the foundation for economic recovery” and “injected new momentum into the construction of the CPEC”.
China, Pakistan reaffirm to work closely to promote CPECs positive contributions
China and Pakistan have reaffirmed to work closely to promote China Pakistan Economic Corridor’s positive contributions.
This resolve was expressed at the second meeting of CPEC Joint Working Group on International Cooperation and Coordination in Urumqi, China. The meeting was co-chaired by Foreign Secretary Sohail Mahmood and Chinese Vice-Foreign Minister Luo Zhaouhi and reviewed the progress of the JWG since its inaugural meeting held in April last year in Beijing.
Both sides were also unanimous to encourage think-tanks, media and opinion-makers to understand and examine CPEC as a case-study for international co-operation, economic development, and people-to-people exchanges.