BEIJING, March 16 (APP):Pakistan Ambassador to China Masood Khalid Saturday said that the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation was a symbol of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and had a growing impact on the world.
“Pakistan looks forward to the second Belt and Road Forum (BRF) as an important platform for getting the international consensus on connectivity and promoting effective cooperation to unlock the potential of our economies and give full play to the enterprising spirit of our peoples,” he said in an interview with Xinhuanet.
In 2013, Pakistan and China had reached an understanding to develop the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) to upgrade the physical connectivity infrastructure between the two countries and further enhance economic relations.
In the short span of time, CPEC has become one of the largest, most visible and most successful projects under the initiative, the ambassador said.
He further described the effect of CPEC on Pakistan in both tangible and intangible ways.
The energy crisis afflicting Pakistan has largely subsided due to CPEC, according to the ambassador.
Pakistan’s economic growth in 2017-18 had reached to recent high of 5.8 percent, he added.
“The people of Pakistan have always had the great respect for China’s determination to succeed, especially over the past four decades of reform and opening up. Under CPEC, one could say that we are experiencing our own version of reform and opening up,” he said.
Ambassador Masood Khalid said that both China and Pakistan were working to promote steady development of the CPEC and upgrade the two countries’ trade and economic ties comprehensively.
He encouraged Chinese enterprises to take advantage of favourable investment opportunities in Pakistan.
The ambassador termed the China’s achievements in poverty alleviation as a result of several inter-related factors.
“Some of these include meticulous planning, scientific decision-making on development work, untiring efforts of the government and people and the leadership’s unwavering commitment to the well-being of the people,” he said.
“Pakistan is working to adapt China’s socio-economic development model for poverty alleviation.”
He hailed China’s commitment to sharing the benefits of its economic development for promoting sustainable win-win outcomes and economic globalization.
China has been playing a progressively greater role on the world stage since 1949, and this has not been an exclusively one-way process; growth in other markets is also a major driver of Chinese growth, he noted.
It is a virtuous interplay that has enriched the entire world, including in the cultural and civilizational domains, the ambassador said.
