JCC minutes yet to be signed

ISLAMABAD:

As Pakistan is eager to host President Xi Jinping to celebrate the decade of cooperation under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project, Beijing has shied away from giving its nod to decisions taken in last meeting of the Joint Cooperation Committee (JCC) held over six months ago.

The half-year delay in signing minutes of the meeting underscores the discord over policy due to Islamabad’s failure to honour its commitments.

JCC is a strategic decision-making body of CPEC and its 11th meeting was held virtually on October 27, 2022 on the insistence of the new PML-N led government that wanted to showcase some progress.

Sources told The Express Tribune that China had not yet formally ratified the decisions taken in the last JCC meeting. They said that in order to resolve the lingering issue, a virtual meeting was held on April 10 between the director general of international cooperation of National Development and Reforms Commission (NDRC) China and the CPEC project director of Pakistan.

A final version of the minutes was shared with Chinese authorities on April 11 but no response was received from Beijing, said the sources.

“Everything went well in the last meeting and both sides will soon formally sign the minutes of JCC,” said CPEC Project Director Dr Nadeem Javaid while talking to The Express Tribune.

Authorities, however, blame the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) led previous government for the estranged economic relations with Beijing. Pakistan has violated its commitments given to the Chinese authorities under CPEC, they believe.

Last month, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said that Pakistan owed Rs450 billion to the Chinese power producers, a colossal bill that should have been close to zero as per the CPEC energy framework agreement.

The government also backtracked from its commitment of tax concessions for Chinese firms, blocked their profit repatriation and tried to reopen CPEC energy deals. The PML-N government also could not do much to address the outstanding issues.

Sources said that one of the three major Chinese power plants was considering beginning arbitration proceedings, if the government failed to release funds needed for coal imports.

Consequently, the minutes of the 11th JCC meeting remain pending while Pakistan desires to hold the next session on July 5 and invite the Chinese president to mark the “Decade of CPEC”.

Sources mentioned that the planning ministry had proposed to invite either the Chinese president or the prime minister to mark the CPEC’s 10th anniversary.

There was also a proposal to invite ministers from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Iran, Oman, Afghanistan and Central Asian Republics to build consensus on regional connectivity.

Federal Minister for Planning Ahsan Iqbal on Wednesday chaired a meeting to review the ongoing preparations. He directed all ministries and divisions to finalise proposals for development projects for the upcoming JCC meeting, according to a statement issued by the planning ministry.

Last month, though Iqbal visited China, he could not get the minutes of JCC signed.

CPEC agreement was signed between Pakistan and China on July 5, 2013 during the PML-N’s tenure and its 10 years will be completed in July this year.

Under the agreement, so far less than $25 billion of Chinese investment has been made out of the planned amount of $62 billion.

There are 11 joint working groups that deal with operational matters of CPEC and draft proposals for the JCC.

Energy is the most important area of cooperation. But the current situation can be gauged from the fact that the Joint Working Group (JWG) on Energy Cooperation had held its meeting two years ago.

Now, the government is trying to hold the next JWG session on May 23, subject to the willingness of Chinese counterpart. It emerged that Beijing was irritated by Pakistan’s efforts to reopen CPEC deals and a delay in clearing their outstanding dues.

Despite Gwadar being another most important subject of CPEC cooperation, its JWG met 15 months ago in December 2021.

Similarly, the meeting of JWG on Industrial Cooperation, another area that was supposed to bring industrial revolution, was held 13 months ago. The government is now planning to hold the industrial cooperation JWG meeting on the first of June.

“Ahsan Iqbal directed the concerned stakeholders to hold meetings of JWGs on a regular basis so that projects can be completed timely,” said the planning ministry.

The minister also directed the ministries to finalise proposals with a concrete agenda for the upcoming JCC.

Each ministry should prepare a report on its project that has economic and social benefits for Pakistan, said the minister, while reiterating that the decade of CPEC should be celebrated very well while rejecting the negative propaganda against it, stated the planning ministry.

The minister also directed the relevant ministry to expedite work on SEZs in order to gain a piece of the Chinese industry’s relocation to Pakistan with low-cost production.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 4^th, 2023.

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