ISLAMABAD: The government announced on Monday that Pakistan and China had agreed to form a consortium of bilateral and multilateral partners to finance the $7 billion Mainline-1 (ML-1) railway project, along with a four-year action plan (2025-29) for the second phase of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

Speaking at a news conference, Planning and Development Minister Ahsan Iqbal said that during Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s recent visit to China, the two sides had agreed to constitute a consortium of financiers, including the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), China and Pakistan, for the 1,700-km Karachi-Peshawar railway line.

He said China had assured financing not only for ML-1 but also for the Karakoram Highway. Negotiations with multiple financiers would be concluded within a month. He added that ML-1 and the Sukkur-Hyderabad Motorway would already have been completed, had it not been for the 2018 political change, alleging that the subsequent PTI government “destroyed the process”.

The minister said Pakistan and China had agreed to develop and implement a four-year action plan to build, between 2025 and 2029, a “China-Pakistan community with a shared future” with stronger political trust, closer trade ties, deeper security cooperation and stronger people-to-people links. Agriculture modernisation and industrial development would be prioritised under CPEC’s second phase, with space for third-party participation.

Minister says Beijing also assured funding for Karakoram Highway

The next meeting of the Joint Cooperation Council (JCC) of CPEC will be held on Sept 26 in Beijing. Both sides also agreed to advance industrial park development in line with local needs, support enterprise investment in special economic zones (SEZs) — particularly in Karachi and Islamabad — and offer preferential policies and a supportive business environment.

Mr Iqbal said the action plan was a “solid development” of leadership-level meetings aimed at deepening strategic cooperation and advancing the shared vision of an even closer partnership in the new era between two “time-tested, friendly countries.”

The two sides agreed to make full use of the Framework Agreement on Industrial Cooperation to accelerate industrialisation, support exports and encourage Chinese firms to invest in Pakistan, including in the mining sector and building mining industrial parks.

They also agreed to promote cooperation in crop cultivation, animal husbandry, epidemic control for plants and animals, aquaculture, agro-processing, agricultural mechanisation and capacity building in seed technology and drip irrigation.

The plan includes aligning the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) with Pakistan’s 5Es Framework, implementing both large-scale landmark projects and “small and beautiful” livelihood projects, while ensuring both high-quality development and robust security.

Published in Dawn, September 9th, 2025