ISLAMABAD, Apr 11 (APP):Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday said that the government was not only giving top priority to China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project but wanted to further expand its scope so that other countries could also become part of the gigantic project and a new era of progress and prosperity started in the region.
The prime minister stated this while chairing a high-level meeting on his forthcoming visit to China to participate in the second Belt and Road Forum for International cooperation. The meeting reviewed the preparations regarding promoting cooperation between the two countries in various fields during the forthcoming visit of the Prime Minister to China.
The prime minister said that the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project consisted of just few power plants and three corridors, while the present government had included agriculture, education, health, water projects, vocational education and skill development , transport, up-gradation of Railways Main Line-1 and other important projects in the second phase of CPEC.
He said the government would replicate the successful experiment of Chinese government of poverty alleviation where millions of people were lifted out of poverty. He said the government wanted to learn from China’s skill in agriculture, industry and other fields.
The prime minister said keeping in view the commendable progress of China in science and technology fields, cooperation between the two countries in this field would be the main focus of the visit.
He said efforts were going on to accelerate the process of getting scholarships for at-least 20,000 Pakistani students so that they could study advance subjects in China.
The prime minister said that special attention was being given for bilateral cooperation between Pakistan and China in eight big sectors including mining, high-speed railways, manufacturing , agriculture etc.
The meeting was attended by Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Information Minister Chaudhry Fawad Hussain, Minister for Food and Security Shahibzada Muhammad Sultan, Education Minister Shafqat Mahmood , Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, Energy Minister Omar Ayub Khan, Chairman Task Force for Science and Technology Dr Atta ur Rehman and other high officials.
