LAHORE: A high-level Chinese delegation, led by National Development and Reform Commission of China Vice Chairman Wang Xiatao, called on Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Shehbaz Sharif at Prime Minister House in Islamabad on Wednesday.
During the meeting, different matters, including the meeting of China-Pakistan Joint Cooperation Committee and long-term China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) plan, came under discussion. Steps to further promote bilateral cooperation along with expediting the speed of work on the CPEC project were also discussed.
Talking on the occasion, the chief minister said that the government and the people of the country were thankful to the leadership of the People’s Republic of China for initiating the CPEC project.
He termed the CPEC as a game-changer initiative and observed that this plan would usher in an economic revolution across the country. He said the end-result of CPEC would be quite beautiful and the project would materialise in a benefitting manner.
CM Shehbaz said that CPEC would inspire a new era of economic prosperity, and as a result the country would be placed among the top industrial countries of the world. The CPEC project was equally beneficial and economically viable for the opponents, he added.
After the CPEC, the announcement of the construction of a new airport by China in Pakistan was another important Chinese gift to the country, he said, while adding that citizens of the country were thankful to the Chinese leadership for that. The game-changer project was the largest project of its kind in the history of both the countries and it had created new avenues of cooperation between the two countries, Shehbaz said.
While welcoming the Chinese delegation, the Punjab chief minister said that China had given a proof of its true friendship with Pakistan in the shape of CPEC. He pointed towards the different agreements reached during the 7th session of China-Pakistan Joint Cooperation Committee, and said that work on the establishment of exclusive economic zones should be started soon so that these zones and other aligned projects could be completed at the earliest.
