Ahsan reviews preparations for PM’s upcoming China visit

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives, Ahsan Iqbal chaired a meeting here on Monday to discuss preparations for the Prime Minister’s upcoming visit to China and review progress on China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) Phase 2.

The meeting was attended by the Secretary of Planning and senior officials of the Ministry of Planning, according to a press release issued by the planning ministry.

The minister reviewed the expected progress on CPEC Phase 2 during his recent visit to China last week and briefed on the preparations and agenda for the upcoming JCC meeting scheduled to be held next week.

Officials briefed the Federal Minister on the ongoing and proposed projects under consideration by various ministries.

The Minister emphasized that ensuring progress on ongoing and newly proposed development projects under CPEC Phase 2 would be a key agenda item of the Prime Minister’s visit to China.

“All ministries and departments will have to play an active role in the completion of CPEC projects,” he added.

He said solid progress on ML-1 would prove to be a milestone for Pakistan’s communication and trade sectors adding promoting cooperation with China in other sectors, including technology transfer, was a top government priority.

In addition, he said technology transfer would provide Pakistan with invaluable opportunities to increase its experience and capacity. He said, in Phase 2, business-to-business cooperation would start in addition to cooperation between the two governments.

The minister said that Government-to-Government, Business-to-Business would prove to be a significant strategic development in terms of partnership between Pakistan and China, adding China has developed a clear vision and roadmap “We will also have to move forward with a vision for national development,” Ahsan Iqbal stressed, saying that Pakistan was the most important country in the region in terms of regional cooperation and its relations.

“The Prime Minister’s visit to China will mark the beginning of a new era of cooperation in all sectors, including CPEC,” Ahsan said.