KARACHI: Chinese Ambassador Mr Jiang Zaidong on Monday urged China and Pakistan to build an Open Corridor, with the goal of giving full play to the CPEC’s role in promoting regional economic growth and inter-connectivity, such as gradually promoting project cooperation with third parties in priority areas of CPEC cooperation, including agriculture, industry, and IT, etc.
Amb Jiang said while addressing the FCD ceremony of the C-5 project of the Chashma Nuclear Power Plant and said that the friends of both countries should be lauded for their long-term promotion of practical cooperation between China and Pakistan.
“In another day, we will go through the extraordinary year 2024. Over the past year, in the face of a complex international environment, China-Pakistan relations, especially the practical cooperation between the two countries, have made steady progress. President Xi Jinping maintained close communication with President Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz, and reached important consensus on promoting China-Pakistan all-weather strategic cooperation, especially on forging an ‘upgraded version’ of CPEC, which provides a fundamental guideline and a strong driving force for accelerating to build an even closer China-Pakistan community with a shared future in the new era,” he said.
He said Premier Li Qiang and Prime Minister Shehbaz’s mutual visits  this year have effectively promoted cooperation between the two countries in various fields. The world’s highest altitude Khunjerab-Sost Pass has realized the all year-round function and the Suki Kinari Hydropower Station, with a total investment of nearly US$2 billion, has been put into commercial operation.
“The Gwadar New International Airport with world-leading standards has been successfully completed. And the Chashma Nuclear Power Plant Unit 5, which can create 40,000 jobs directly and indirectly during the peak period of construction, has officially started construction today. These are just an epitome of the achievements of China-Pakistan practical cooperation, but they are good enough to reflect the tenacity and certainty of China-Pakistan cooperation in an uncertain world,” he said.
Of course, he added, we also need to be aware that the current international situation is changing rapidly, the global economy is generally in a downturn, and security issues remain prominent, and China-Pakistan practical cooperation, especially the high-quality CPEC cooperation, faces increasing difficulties and challenges. This requires us to not only strengthen our confidence and face up to difficulties, but also to be trail-blazing and do solid work. I personally have the following thoughts on this, he said.
“First, firmly promote solid progress in deepening the development of CPEC projects. We need to closely focus on forging an “upgraded version” of CPEC and take more specific and practical measures. First, to adhere to common development and build a Growth Corridor. The key is to make full use of Pakistan’s industrial advantages. For example, in the agricultural field, our two sides can cooperate to build a modern, efficient and water-saving agricultural demonstration base and explore the ‘contract farming’ approach to support Pakistan’s export of high-quality agricultural products to China. Second, to uphold a people-centered approach and build a Livelihood-enhancing  Corridor, mainly by implementing more ‘small but beautiful’ projects, such as distributing ‘health kits’ and providing scholarships to people in remote areas,” he added.
Third, he said, adhere to innovation-driven approach and build an Innovation Corridor, by focusing on introducing the concept of developing new quality productive forces, such as promoting the construction of smart cities and exploring cross-border e-commerce cooperation. Fourth, adhere to sustainable development and build a Green Corridor, by focusing on taking a green and low-carbon path, such as operating the hydro-power, photovoltaic, wind power and other renewable energy projects under CPEC.
“Second, make coordinated efforts to promote the expansion and strengthening of non-CPEC projects. China-Pakistan relations are all-weather, so our practical cooperation is naturally all-round. There are broad cooperation space except for CPEC, such as nuclear power and mining cooperation, which are both successful stories. China is a major nuclear power country in the world with advanced technology. The installed capacity of nuclear power plants currently in operation and approved for construction is 113 million kilowatts, ranking the first in the world. In order to help Pakistan optimize its energy structure and make up for the power gap, China and Pakistan have jointly built 6 nuclear power units, with an average annual power generation share of up to 17%,” he added.
Ambassador Jiang said Pakistan’s nuclear energy development has ranked among the top in South Asia. At the same time, in order to help Pakistan transform its resource advantages into fund income, our two sides continue to promote mining cooperation. Copper and its products alone have an average annual export of US$1 billion. He said these projects have not only brought considerable economic benefits, but also created a large number of jobs and brought about good social benefits. The successful practice in nuclear power and mining cooperation shows that, non-CPEC projects have good benefits, great potential and broad prospects.
“They can definitely become bigger and stronger, and be developed in a coordinated manner together with CPEC projects, so as to jointly deepen ‘hard connectivity’ of infrastructure, ‘soft connectivity’ of rules and standards, and ‘heart connectivity’ between the people of the two countries. Third, actively promote market-driven projects that are innovative and optimized. An important experience of China in advancing reform is to give full play to the decisive role of the market in resource allocation, while letting the government play its role better. The Central Economic Work Conference held not long ago also proposed to coordinate the relationship between an efficient market and an effective government, and to coordinate the relationship between fostering new driving forces and upgrading old ones,” he added.
He said that these provide us with important inspiration for promoting the next step of cooperation, which is to adapt to the new situation and new stage, open up new ideas, cultivate new impetus, and actively consider carrying out more ‘market-driven’ cooperation on the basis of previous ‘project-driven’ cooperation. On the one hand, we must continue to explore the Chinese market. He said China imports US$2.56 trillion of products each year, of which only about US$3.5 billion comes from Pakistan, accounting for only 0.14%. Great progress can be made. The key is to give full play to Pakistan’s advantages and adopt effective methods.
For example, he said, for large-scale produced agricultural products such as sesame and chilli, “contract farming” approach can be used to promote them; for small-batch special products such as cashmere, dates, and dried fruits, we can explore to enter Chinese market through e-commerce. On the other hand, we need to actively move towards international market. Pakistan has unique advantages in terms of location, language, and human resources, which can be combined with China’s advantages of technology, capital, and market experience, to jointly explore third-party markets such as the Middle East, Europe and the United States.
For example, he added, Challenge Textile’s clothing and Long March’s tires have achieved large-scale exports to third countries. We are pleased to see that according to the latest statistics from the State Bank of Pakistan, despite the overall sluggish economic environment, China’s direct investment in Pakistan accounted for 41% of the total investment in Pakistan in the past five months, which shows the vitality and potential of market-driven cooperation. We hope and believe that Pakistan will attach importance to maintaining and expanding this good momentum and provide a better business and security environment for Chinese companies.
“In short, in the new year, we stand ready to continue to work with Pakistani side, to adhere to combine high-quality development with greater security, to combine quantitative growth with qualitative improvement, to advance both major signature projects and ‘small but beautiful’ public welfare projects in a coordinated manner, and to consolidate cooperation in traditional areas and steadily expand cooperation in emerging areas in a coordinated manner, so as to foster an ‘upgraded version’ of CPEC, to continue to write a new chapter of practical cooperation, to accelerate the building of an even closer China-Pakistan community with a shared future in the new era, and to continuously enrich the vivid practice of high-quality Belt and Road cooperation and the promotion of building a community with a shared future for mankind,” he said.
“Finally, I would like to once again warmly congratulate on the successful holding of the FCD ceremony of the C-5 project. Wish China and Pakistan prosperity and everlasting friendship,” he concluded.
