Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif made a key address to Belt and Road Forum on Sunday in Beijing. The chief minister addressed the forum verbally in a comprehensive manner instead of reading a written speech.
The chief minister said that the Belt and Road vision is a harbinger of a new era of connectivity and integration. He said President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road initiative is not only bold and futuristic but also a historic move.
He said the Belt and Road is a wonderful platform to boost cooperation, build future cooperative frameworks and share cooperation outcomes. Launched in the backdrop of slow global economic recovery, new threats posed to economic globalisation, and greater calls for protectionism, President Xi’s initiative is an innovative and trailblasing concept, he added.
He said this bold Belt and Road initiative of President Xi Jinping has laid the foundation of safe future and will give new dimensions to development plans. He said President Xi’s Belt and Road vision has the potential to bring about lasting peace, stability and economic integration in the region.
He said it is an effective recipe to neutralise and overcome the scourges of terrorism and extremism by empowering the peoples. The incorporation of the OBOR in the United Nation Security Council resolution signals greater global ownership of the project and an affirmation of President Xi’s visionary leadership, he added.
Chief Minister Sharif said the Silk Road is not only meant for merchandise and other commodities trade but it will also transmit knowledge, ideas and help bring different cultures closer. The connectivity of people remains at the heart of creating a community of nations with a common destiny, he added.
The aim of OBOR is to make the process of economic globalisation more inclusive, more sustainable and more reinvigorated. He said the economic disparity between developing South and developed North is a glaring reality.
The real potential of the OBOR lies in bridging the gap between the North and South through win-win partnerships, he added. He said we support President Xi’s vision and are grateful to him for this historic gift of over $50 billion investments in the form of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
Commenting on CPEC, he said history has yet to record such example of generosity, and large-heartedness. He said progress is being made in the implementation of CPEC in Pakistan and with the highest level of transparency, efficiency and effectiveness the building blocks of CPEC are being installed.
CPEC is reshaping the geo-economic landscape and is a game-changer not only for Pakistan but also the entire region, he added. He said revival of New Silk Roads, which is at the heart of OBOR, ushers in a new era of hope, and a break of a new dawn.
CM Shehbaz said OBOR is about shared prosperity, making peace and development on the basis of interactions among peoples. He said OBOR seeks to turn Silk Roads into new pathways to discover the humanity’s limitless potential for growth, and reconstruction.
He said President Xi Jinping’s crusade against corruption has inspired him personally and he has undertaken a similar fight against corruption under the leadership of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif with the result that transparency has become the hallmark of his government, as a zero tolerance policy has been adopted against the corruption.
