ISLAMABAD: Early signing of the proposed China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) industrial cooperation framework agreement would help achieve maximum objectives envisioned under the trade route in line with the long-term plans, Project Director of the Project Management Unit on Industrial Cooperation at the Board of Investment (BoI) Asim Ayub said on Tuesday.

He was speaking at the fifth meeting of the Joint Working Group on Industrial Cooperation under CPEC. The BoI had submitted the draft framework agreement to the Chinese government last month.

The meeting, held via video link, was co-chaired by BoI Executive DG Khashih-ur-Rehman and Chinese National Development and Reform Commission DG Ying Xiong, and was attended by officials from line ministries, provincial governments and embassies.

Ayub said that immense efforts were made by the Pakistani side to devise the draft framework, taking all stakeholders on board and final approval of Prime Minister Imran Khan was also obtained accordingly. The framework agreement is need of the hour for a measurable impact with regards to Industrial Cooperation, Special Economic Zones (SEZs), business-to-business and people-to-people collaboration.

The project director further accentuated that Pakistan highly regards the idea of industrial diagnosis by the Chinese side.

Published in Dawn, December 16th, 2020