Civil, military leadership to receive Chinese president at Chaklala airbase. PHOTO COURTESY: SOUTH ASIAN DAILY
Leading a 100-strong delegation, the Chinese leader will be given an unprecedented welcome on his arrival at Chaklala airbase, when Pakistan’s top civil and military leadership, including the president, prime minister, services chiefs and other officials will receive him.
Amid tight security, a fleet of eight JF-17 Thunder fighter jets will escort the Chinese president when his special plane enters Pakistan’s airspace. A 21-gun salute will be presented to the Chinese leader.
Xi is the first Chinese head of state to visit Islamabad since 2006. He was originally scheduled to travel to Pakistan in September last year but cancelled his trip due to political unrest in the country.
According to the Foreign Office, President Xi would hold talks with Premier Nawaz. The two sides are expected to sign a number of agreements.
Although there is no official confirmation, the two countries are likely to finalise a deal on Pakistan’s plan to acquire eight latest submarines from China. Indian media reports suggest that New Delhi is wary of Pakistan’s submarine purchase and is closely monitoring the visit of the Chinese president.
President Xi’s visit where the two countries are expected to sign agreements worth $45 billion is seen as crucial in view of the growing ties between India and the United States.
Speaking at a joint news conference federal ministers Pervaiz Rashid and Ahsan Iqbal said on Sunday that projects worth $28 billion were ready for groundbreaking.
They highlighted the importance of President Xi’s visit, especially with regard to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), and shared the details of various projects with journalists.
“2015 is the year for groundbreaking ceremonies of all projects under the CPEC,” said Ahsan Iqbal, the minister for planning and development. “In their last meeting Pakistan and China had selected five projects whose foundation stone will be laid on Monday.”
Other projects will be inaugurated in the coming weeks after ascertaining their financial feasibility, he said, adding that the two countries are committed to starting all the projects this year. “Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and President Xi are going to transform the two countries’ dreams into reality.”
Economic corridor
Iqbal said that in July 2013 Premier Sharif and President Xi had signed a memorandum of understanding for the economic corridor. “Now it’s going to become a reality.”
He said the CPEC has established political and economic strategic partnership between Pakistan and China.
“In a recent all-party conference, all political leadership had reiterated their support for the economic corridor.”
The minister said that under the CPEC, four important sectors have been framed for development: energy, Gwadar port, infrastructure and industrial collaboration.
“For energy, Pakistan and China have identified projects that would generate 16,400 megawatts of electricity through coal, hydel, solar and wind energy. Experts from both sides have identified ‘early-harvest’ projects that will generate 10,400MW of electricity in three to four years.”
Iqbal said $37 billion would be invested in energy projects, adding that all the energy projects are located across the country, including 6,600MW projects at Thar in Sindh, which would “not only eradicate poverty but also revolutionise the lives of the people in the drought-hit area”.
Regarding Gwadar, the minister said the port would be upgraded and three roads would be constructed to link it with the rest of the country.
As for infrastructure, the Chinese Silk Route will be connected through Islamabad from Khunjerab and Havelian, he said. “China will provide $11 billion in cheap loans for the construction of roads.”
About industrial collaboration, Iqbal said economic zones would be built along the economic corridor. He said the government would take all the political parties on board to finalise locations for the zones.
New era of partnership
The minister said Pakistan and China are entering a new era of geo-economic partnership, wherein they would develop the latter’s western area, and the CPEC would connect it to the rest of the world via Gwadar.
Without foreign direct investment, he said, no country is able to develop. Pakistan has made many improvements through the National Action Plan, and the Karachi operation’s success would also help the country attract investors, he added. “President Xi’s visit will support Pakistan in becoming an Asian tiger.”
About balance of trade between the two countries, Iqbal said the Chinese foreign minister had suggested during his recent visit to Pakistan that China might relocate its industry to Pakistan because of cheap labour as well as other reasons.
Nishan-e-Pakistan for Xi
Nishan-e-Pakistan, the country’s highest civil decoration, will be conferred on President Xi in a special investiture at the Presidency.
The Chinese president is also expected to address the joint session of the parliament and meet leaders of various political parties.
“Pakistan and China attach the highest priority to the strategic cooperative partnership between the two countries,” said the FO in a statement. “Exchanges at the highest level are the hallmark of their unique friendship and wide-ranging cooperation.... The visit would be the most important highlight of the Pakistan-China Year of Friendly Exchanges.”
Published in The Express Tribune, April 20th, 2015.
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