PM vows to complete CPEC project at all costs

Prime Minister Imran Khan expressed satisfaction on the pace of work on ongoing schemes under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and reiterated his government’s resolve to complete mega project at all cost. Chairing a high level meeting to review progress on CPEC, the flagship project of Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), Imran said that CPEC was a testimony of the time-tested and deep-rooted Pak-China friendship and “will continue to take pre-eminence in our development strategy”.

The prime minister received a briefing on the progress of ongoing projects in various sectors. He was informed that the government had not only completed the projects started by the previous government, but also completed a large number of other projects in just two and a half years.

The meeting was informed that regardless of which government started the projects, most of them had been completed by the current government. Special economic zones – Rashakai, Dhabeji, Allama Iqbal Industrial City and Gwadar industrial zones – are attracting foreign and local investors, China was expanding cooperation in agriculture and livestock sectors, the meeting heard.

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The prime minister emphasised the need for focusing on export-oriented and import-substitution industrialisation. “Our policies should be framed accordingly,” he said. He also directed for preparing “our youth to take up new jobs being created by incoming industry and high quality agricultural farms”.

The meeting was attended by federal ministers Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Hammad Azhar, Shaukat Tarin, Khusro Bakhtiyar and Asad Umar, Advisers to Prime Minister Razak Dawood and Dr Moeed Yousuf, Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa, Board of Investment Chairman Atif Bukhari, CPEC Authority Chairman Lt-Gen (retd) Asim Saleem Bajwa and others. (WITH INPUT FROM APP)