- PM asks Afghanistan to support Pakistan’s peace initiatives
Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif has said that development in Pakistan would go at gallop owing to the ongoing and swift execution of power and infrastructure projects across the country.
Talking to the newsmen aboard en-route to China’s Hangzhou city from Beijing, he said that the One Belt One Road initiative of President Xi Jinping was attracting the world and those who have not yet joined the race, must consider it.
The prime minister along with a high-level delegation was in Beijing to attend the two-day Belt and Road Forum hosted by the Chinese government. Nawaz was of the view that the countries failing to be part of the OBOR would lag behind in development and could also regret for it in future.
He said that the Chinese investment of $56 billion under CPEC was unprecedented and historic that had helped launch of power and infrastructure projects. He said that a huge network of motorways was being developed across the country from North to South and East to West to link all the federating units.
He said that the development projects worth a total Rs 2,000 billion were being executed throughout Pakistan. To a question, he said that the economic development was linked to peace as all sorts of development and systems revolved around the economy. In Pakistan, growth rate is record high with country’s stock exchange excelling as one of the world’s best five performing stock exchanges which had soared from 19,000 points in 2013 to 52,500 as of Monday.
He also expressed satisfaction over the industrial and agricultural growth in the country. Responding to a query, the prime minister reiterated his government’s resolve for a peaceful Afghanistan, saying that Afghanistan should also support Pakistan’s peace initiatives. President Xi in his speeches on both days of the Belt and Road Forum had mentioned Gwadar as well as CPEC repeatedly and highlighted their importance, he said.
To a question, the prime minister said that Pakistan desired the expansion of OBOR particularly desiring the joining of its opponent as it would ultimately benefit Pakistan. He said that the motorways network was being expanded from Lahore to Karachi and explained the progress on various sections of the project.
The government had saved Rs 100 billion from three power projects and all the development projects were being executed as per prescribed schedule, he said. Prime Minister Nawaz arrived Hangzhou, a populous Chinese city of Zhejiang province known as emerging technological hub, where Vice Governor Liang Liming received him.
