- Opportunities and challenges
Besides the 37 heads of state or government in attendance at the second BRI conference, the event was also marked by the presence of CEOS of industrial and business concerns, IFIs and other international organisations. This provided a rare opportunity to the delegation from Pakistan to meet so many movers and shakers at one place. PM Imran Khan had informal talks with the WB CEO and IMF chief. On Saturday he attended the leaders’ roundtable meeting.
Assessing the performance of the first phase of CPEC, the flagship project of BRI, Mr Khan noted with satisfaction in his address that Pakistan’s energy supplies had increased massively, critical infrastructure gaps were being plugged, Gwadar that was once a small fishing village was transforming into a commercial hub while Gwadar airport was going to be the largest in the country. He also recognised that Pakistan was amongst BRI’s earliest and most enthusiastic proponents. It would have been graceful if he had mentioned that it was the government preceding the PTI administration that had made CPEC its primary focus.
Now that the country is entering the second phase, he has stressed the need to counter climate change and poverty through Sino-Pak joint efforts. He also mentioned agricultural cooperation and industrial development. Unless the country’s ministries, departments and institutions improve their performance, cooperation by China alone will do no miracles. Mr Khan’s invitation to foreign investors will not produce results if they continue to face problems in doing business. PM’s Commerce Adviser Abdul Razak Dawood hopes that in the second phase of the China-Pakistan FTA, the country’s export earnings could increase by $500 million. Exports will improve over the next months and years only if goods are delivered on time, without compromise on quality and without frequent price fluctuations.
The highly damaging impact of climate change cannot be tackled without cooperation between all the countries in the region. The climate ministry has to be led by a minister with sufficient knowledge of the issues involved, instead of becoming a sinecure for incompetent loyalists as has happened under both the PML-N and PTI. Similarly poverty eradication needs more realistic, and at the same more effective, measures than those being proposed.