PESHAWAR: A two-day CPEC industrial cooperation virtual conference was organised by the Centre for Pakistan Studies, Peking University, Beijing, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Board of Investment and Trade as part of the 70-year celebrations of Pak-China friendship.

Ambassador of Pakistan to China Moinul Haq, CPEC Parliamentary Committee chairman Sher Ali Arbab, CPEC Authority chairman Asim Saleem Bajwa, KP-Board of Investment and Trade CEO Hassan Daud Butt, Member PM’s Task Force on Economic Diplomacy Haroon Shareef, Karachi Stock Exchange former chairman Muneer Kamal, and former ambassadors of Pakistan to China Masood Khalid and Naghmana Hashmi highlighted the industrial cooperation under CPEC.

The conference, which concluded on Tuesday, was attended by a number of participants from China and Pakistan, including public and private sector stakeholders, according to a press release.

Hassan Daud said that agriculture and light engineering were the key sectors in which cooperation needed to be enhanced, which could impact economic development of both the countries. He also called for strengthening people-to-people exchange linkages.

He said the CPEC projects were bringing economic prosperity and the Rashakai project would be a game changer towards sustainable economic growth of the province.

MNA Sher Ali Arbab emphasised interdepartmental cooperation and intergovernmental coordination for smooth implementation of the CPEC projects.

He also highlighted that agriculture had not been given proper attention thus far. He said the government of Pakistan was taking measures to ensure timely completion of projects.

In his closing remarks, Mr Bajwa said the CPEC was progressing according to the timelines and there were no delays.

He said they had made good progress on Faisalabad SEZ and for Rashakai they were close to groundbreaking. He said that 25 big Pakistani companies were ready to invest and a Chinese steel manufacturing company had started establishing a set-up.

Published in Dawn, May 19th, 2021