Minister for Planning and Development, Ahsan Iqbal, has expressed confidence that the next decade of CPEC Phase-II will have a transformative impact on Pakistan, creating employment opportunities and driving structural changes in the economy. Speaking in Beijing after the 14th meeting of the Pakistan-China Joint Coordination Committee, Iqbal highlighted that the formal launch of CPEC Phase-II would significantly contribute to moving Pakistan towards a more advanced economy.
Iqbal emphasized that the second phase of CPEC focuses on modernizing agriculture, expanding industrial cooperation, and fostering technology partnerships. It also aims to deepen people-to-people contacts between the two countries. The roadmap for CPEC Phase-II includes five key corridors: the Growth Corridor, Livelihood Corridor, Innovation Corridor, Green Corridor, and Opening-Up/Regional Connectivity Corridor, all designed to promote inclusive development and a people-centric approach.
The minister also mentioned that Pakistan would leverage Chinese expertise to enhance export sector performance and discussed plans for a CPEC Future Skills Program in fields like IT, robotics, fintech, and biotechnology. Additionally, climate-smart agriculture projects are set to be introduced for sustainable development.
Ahsan Iqbal further announced that work on the Karakoram Highway Phase-II realignment would begin immediately, along with collaboration on a mineral corridor in Balochistan to connect Gwadar with the northern mineral-rich areas of the province. He stressed that these initiatives would make Gwadar Port commercially more attractive.
Assuring full security for Chinese projects and workers in Pakistan, Iqbal reiterated the strength of the Pakistan-China friendship, emphasizing that both nations would work together to thwart any efforts by foreign-sponsored elements to disrupt their growing cooperation.
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