Win-win B2B (Business-to-Business) cooperation and enhanced P2P (People-to-People) contacts should follow the foundational G2G (Government-to-Government) phase of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) to take the historic megadevelopment project to the next level.

These views were shared by H.E. Yao Jing, the ambassador of People’s Republic of China to Pakistan, who was speaking at a seminar ‘CPEC 2015-2019: Achievements, Challenges and the Way Forward’ which was jointly organized by Institute of Policy Studies (IPS), Islamabad, CPEC Economic Forum and Pakistan Institute of Management (PIM).

The seminar also marked the fourth anniversary of CPEC agreement between China and Pakistan (20 April 2015).

The Chinese ambassador in his keynote speech said that as many as 26 new CPEC initiatives were on the way as well. The focus of new CPEC investments will shift from G2G interactions to B2B and P2P cooperation, eventually encouraging the private sector investors from both the countries to play their part especially in the areas of industrial and social development, he added.

The energy projects under CPEC have contributed to a GDP increase of about 1% in Pakistan so far but the real dividends of the mega project will unfold with time, eventually helping in releasing economic pressures on Pakistan considerably, he claimed.

He said that all the developments that were taking place as part of CPEC show the trust and confidence of both countries on each other as it is the only bilateral initiative taken by the Chinese government whereas all other ventures undertaken under BRI were multilateral.

He further said that Pak-China relations have always been based on the principles of justice, fairness and shared destiny, and it is in this spirit that all CPEC ventures seek to extend Chinese progress to Pakistan through different development initiatives. The onus now rests with Pakistan on how it benefits from the opportunities coming forth and one way of doing this is to build its capacity and competitiveness in concerned areas.

The session was chaired by Mirza Hamid Hasan, former federal secretary and member IPS-National Academic Council. Other who spoke on the occasion included General (r) Khalid Naeem Lodhi, former federal defence minister, Dr Talat Shabbir, director, China Study Centre, ISSI, Ambassdor (r) Tajammul Altaf, senior research associate, IPS,  Abid Sabri, executive director, PIM, Muhammad Arshad Qaim Khani, executive chairman, CPEC Economic Forum, Dr Syed Tahir Hjazi, vice chancellor, MY University, Islamabad, and Dr Shazia Ghani, director, CPEC and BRI, SASSI. #