Roundup: Pakistani scholars hail China’s modernization, envision CPEC cooperation

by Xinhua writer Tang Binhui
KARACHI, Pakistan, Sept. 7 (Xinhua) — The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is beneficial for both countries as it creates many trade opportunities and helps Pakistan to speed up the industrialization drive, Nadira Panjwani, chairperson of the Karachi-based Karachi Council on Foreign Relations (KCFR), has said.
Addressing a seminar hosted by KCFR on Friday, the chairperson said the CPEC was a flagship project symbolizing tremendous potentials that exist for trade and regional connectivity.
The expert said friendship between Pakistan and China is unbreakable, adding that as the world undergoes transformative changes and the global geopolitical landscape evolves, the two countries need to strengthen cooperation and strive to build a more interconnected, peaceful and sustainable world.
Talking to Xinhua on the occasion, Habib Paracha, a member of KCFR and a film producer, said that China’s modernization shows the world how a populous country alleviated poverty.
“Pakistan should make good use of its resource advantages and learn from China’s experience to solve the problem of unbalanced development and gradually move toward modernization,” he said.
Paracha said that agricultural cooperation between Pakistan and China should be broader, adding that it would benefit the Pakistani people, and the two countries should continue to strengthen cultural exchanges to promote mutual understanding.
Speaking at the event, Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan Jiang Zaidong said that China is willing to strengthen exchanges on state governance with Pakistan and work together to promote the modernization of both countries.
Launched in 2013, the CPEC, a flagship project of the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative, is a corridor linking Gwadar Port in southwest Pakistan’s Balochistan province with Kashgar in northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, which highlights energy, transport and industrial cooperation in the first phase, while the new phase expands to agriculture and livelihood, among others. ■