ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif says completion of China Pakistan Economic Corridor projects will transform the socio-economic landscape of Pakistan where no one will be left behind. Chairing a meeting to review progress on CPEC in Islamabad on Wednesday, he said that government’s endeavours have started yielding substantive results. He said that China has proven to be a real friend of the people and government of Pakistan. He said the energy projects under CPEC have provided an impetus to the energy roadmap of the country.
Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif said that Pakistan’s economy was in shambles in 2013 when the present government came into power. He said that it was China that supported and helped us in the economic revival at such a crucial juncture for which the government and people of Pakistan were indebted to the Chinese leadership and people. He said the visionary Chinese leadership supported us in translating the idea of CPEC into reality.
While highlighting the significance of CPEC, the Prime Minister said that CPEC is Pakistan’s strategic economic initiative that has been significantly attracting the world in general and regional countries in particular. He said the CPEC has changed the negative security narrative into an exceedingly positive economic narrative for Pakistan.
The successful implementation of the projects under the umbrella of CPEC is a manifestation of the strong and time-tested friendship between China and Pakistan. He said the success of CPEC has been substantiated by the massive and further expanding foreign investment in Pakistan, and that there was a compelling reason for international investors for investments in Pakistan because of the success story of CPEC initiatives. The meeting reviewed at length the benchmarks set for numerous energy, transport infrastructure and industrial projects in terms of deliverables with particular focus on development of Gwadar Port along with socio-economic uplift projects in Gwadar. The meeting was briefed that Energy projects under the CPEC including Coal, Hydel, Wind, Solar, LNG as well as transmission lines are on track. The participants of the meeting were briefed on the status of each and every energy project under CPEC in terms of timelines, transparency and cost effectiveness.