ISLAMABAD, Aug 16 (APP): Chairman of the Parliamentary
Committee on China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) Senator
Mushahid Hussain Sayed announced that the next CPEC and Silk Road
Forum will have its 3rd international conference here in August
2017.
The forum has been held in the past two years in the city of
Karamay in Xinjiang province of China.
The Chairman said this while speaking to the media on his
return after attending the Silk Road Forum in Karamay where Pakistan
had a representation of over 50 person delegation.
Senator Mushahid Hussain said the Silk Road Forum is organized
by the international think tank, Research and Development International (RDI) and co chaired from the Chinese side by prominent parliamentary,
Dr. Zhao Baiga and on the Pakistan side by Senator Mushahid Hussain
Sayed.The think tank organized the last two forums in cooperation
with the central government of China and the provincial government
of Xinjiang and unanimously decided to hold the 3rd forum in
Pakistan because CPEC is the pilot and flagship project of the One
Belt, One Road initiative of Chinese President Xi Jinping.
The Pakistani delegation that attended the Karamay Forum
included apart from Senator Mushahid Hussain, Senator Salim
Mandviwala, Senator Talha Mahmood plus forum finance minister,
Shaukat Tarin, Deputy Governor of State Bank, Saeed Ahmad, Chairman,
Gwadar Port Authority, Dostain Jamaldini, Chairman of the Pakistan
Red Crescent Society, Saeed Elahi and the Director General, FWO,
Maj. Gen. Mohammad Afzal. Representatives of governments of Sindh
and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were also present in the conference.
Senator Mushahid Hussain said that this time, the forum at
Karamay which is a sister city of Gwadar, also had representatives
from Iran and Kazakhstan who expressed strong interest in
participating in CPEC. Moreover, MOUs worth over 10 billion dollars
were signed in Karamay amongst institutions and companies of Pakistan,China, Iran and Kazakhstan.
Senator Mushahid Hussain said that unanimous decision by these
countries was a vote of confidence in Pakistan and its future role
as the flagship and the pilot project of the One Belt, One Road
through the CPEC, which will drive economic development in Pakistan
and the region and unite the federation of Pakistan by bringing
prosperity and progress to less developed regions of Pakistan
particularly Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit Baltistan.
Senator Mushahid Hussain, who is Chairman of the Organizing
Committee for the CPEC/Silk Forum, to be held in Islamabad in 2017,
said, “We would consult all the stakeholders including the federal
government, provincial governments, private sector as well as all
relevant stakeholders for holding what will probably be the biggest
and the most important conference on CPEC and Silk Road to be held
in Pakistan.
