KARACHI: Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan Mr. Yu Jing has emphasized that China Pakistan Economic Corridor is essence of bilateral long term relations between China and Pakistan. CPEC will develop infrastructure in Pakistan.
Rejecting propaganda by western media, he said that China has no military or strategic designs in Pakistan with regard to CPEC as propagated by the media in west. China will stand by Pakistan to resolve issue of Kashmir.
He was speaking at a dialogue on China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) hosted by the Karachi Council on Foreign Relations (KCFR) here at a local hotel. Ikram Sehgal, Chairman KCFR and Commodore Retd. Sadeed A. Malik, Secretary General also spoke on this occasion.
Mr. Yu Jing said that western media always try to spread negative narrative that we may colonize Pakistan which is totally baseless and wrong. China are Pakistan are not only important countries in this region but are also crucial for the world. CPEC is not going to guarantee the development of whole economy of Pakistan but it is a small part of it. China is doing huge investment on a partnership basis. We are helping Pakistan in various sectors including education, technical education, agriculture, social development, technology transfer etc, he told.
CPEC is not only to connect China with Gwadar but it will also lead to Kandahar, Afghanistan, Central Asia and Russia as well. We are trying hard to make this world a better place to live. Gwadar is an emerging port of Pakistan which was a long awaited dream of Pakistanis and their government, he noted.
We are waiting for free zone policy of government of Pakistan, after which we will launch 19 projects in Gwadar alone. China is spending US$40 million annually to keep Gwadar port functional as it is now started commercial operations as well. We send a commercial vessel every week to Gwadar port to it should survive. In next phase of second Free Trade Agreement (FTA), we will establish manufacturing units of agriculture, sea food and other industries which will also provide huge employment to people, the ambassador informed.
Mr. Yu Jing shared that the biggest issues of Gwadar are electricity and fresh water. China will install a power plant of 300 megawatt while we will also install a desalination plant with capacity of 5000 tons. We are also constructing a 200 beds hospital, education and vocational centers and new international airport in Gwadar. Work on these projects will start from end of this year, he added.
We are also considering a transit trade for Gwadar port as it has been the central part of Balochistan province. Chinese companies are going to invest US$10 million in fisheries sector alone where sea food processing plants will be installed. We will purchase sea food from fishermen. It will also boost local fisheries industry, Mr. Yu Jing further told.
The ambassador told that they are encouraging Chinese tourists to visit Pakistan and for this we are already in talks with governments of Khyber Pakhtoonkha (KPK) and Gilgit Baltistan (GB).
Responding to questions from audience, Chinese ambassador told that any student or trader who can not afford visa processing fee can contact their embassy to get its waiver. In this case, embassy will bear this cost from a rescue scheme launched for this purpose, he stated.
Although China has become the second largest economy in the world, but we are still a developing country. We are still not perfect and have to do many things for our human resource, he responded to a question.
Sharing back ground of CPEC, Chinese ambassador told that it was vision of former prime minister of China Late Chau En Li in 1950s that by the end of this century KurraKaram Highway will become a commercial corridor which we achieved atleast 20 years late due to unstable political situations in the region.
We are also working for Kashmiris to help them get their fundamental rights and justice. A justified solution should be made of Kashmir and China will stand by Pakistan for the regional peace and stability, he reaffirmed.
To a question, Chinese ambassador told that they are issuing 1,00,000 trade visas to Pakistani.
Speaking on this occasion, Ikram Sehgal, Chairman KCFR said that forces not happy with CPEC always keep trying to spread negative propaganda against it. If they were so sincere with Pakistan, then whey they have not make so much investment here. Ikram Sehgal presented KCFR crest to Chinese ambassador on the concluding. News Desk
