ISLAMABAD: Top government officials and expert delegates on Tuesday had a detailed review of the progress mad on the projects being developed under the second phase of the multi-billion-dollar China, Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
At a preparatory meeting for the upcoming 11th meeting of Joint Cooperation Committee (JCC) set to be held this month, the ministry of planning and development held a detailed review of the progress made for the JCC.
Minister for Planning Development and Special Initiatives Professor Ahsan Iqbal reviewed the progress while Secretary, Ministry of Planning and Development, Secretary Ministry of Communications, Executive Director CPEC and representatives from various ministries also attended.
During the pre-CPEC JCC meeting, major deliverable projects were discussed in length, which will be taken up in the up-coming JCC meeting.
It merits mentioning that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif would be visiting China later this week and hence the 11th JCC would have a significance since the incumbent government has already revived CPEC projects, which remained neglected during the last four years of PTI’s tenure.
During the meeting, several projects in various sectors such as energy, transport, Information Technology, Socio-Economic Development, Industrial Cooperation, Science & Technology, Transport Infrastructure and International Cooperation were discussed.
The respective ministries shared their deliverable proposals of projects after conducting their Joint Working Groups Joint Working Groups (JWGs) to be taken up in JCC with the Chinese authorities.
The minister directed the Power Division to expedite the approval process of energy policy for Gilgit Baltistan (GB) so that already agreed projects for GB could be pushed forward.
The minister also stated that Chinese authorities have shown great interest in mining sector and directed the concerned ministry to make a tangible proposal in this regard.
“The Chinese are ready to set-up a working group on the mining sector therefore, we must give them some tangible proposals,” said the minister, while stressing the ministries to make a concrete plan rather than a business-as usual approach.
He further directed that the Development and Production Facility of Solar Panels for domestic use as well as export may be considered for inclusion in the agenda of the meeting.
During the meeting, representative from Information Technology informed the minister that Pakistan and China decided to set up six sub-working groups on communication technology infrastructure, application innovation, policy and regulation, HR development, cyber security and radio spectrum regulation.
Similarly, it was also proposed that the Pak-China Technology Business Forum would be formally established during the JCC meeting. The minister also directed the concerned ministries to focus on the long-term plans as well so projects could be operationalised.
