Govt launches ‘CPEC Centre of Excellence’

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Planning, Development and Reform Ahsan Iqbal has inaugurated work on China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) Centre of Excellence on Monday.

Addressing the inaugural ceremony, Ahsan Iqbal said CPEC was an economic ‘big bang’ which turned Pakistan’s profile from a most dangerous country to a safe haven for billion dollars of Chinese investment.

He said, “Centre of Excellence will provide evidence-based policy suggestions to extract maximum benefits out of CPEC, serving as guiding star for both our policy makers and business class.”

He informed that the center would make research in six key areas of CPEC including the socio-economic impact of the project, the trade and industry cooperation, regional connectivity, financial integration, urban development and job opportunities created by the project.

“It is a very special day when dream is coming true by establishing a unique institute that would undertake research on the future of Pakistan,” he maintained.

“Today is the era of knowledge revolution and we are making efforts to develop CPEC in knowledge frontiers with a basic aim to focus on goal-oriented research with relevance to the future and development of the country,” he remarked.

“It will integrate and coordinate the institutions engaged in implementing CPEC by ensuring excellent research, utilizing modern techniques to help us in policy making and achieving our goal of sustainable growth and development,” said the minister.

He said some countries were feeling insecure due to China’s unprecedented economic development, Pakistan instead considered it as a great opportunity.

Ahsan said, “2018 will be the year of completion of many projects under the CPEC, enabling us to overcome energy shortage by generating electricity from multifarious sources.”

He dispelled the impression that CPEC would create burden and negatively impact industrial sector, saying that it will restart the Pakistan’s export engine. “We should work closely with China to learn innovative techniques and quality. Industry cooperation would double the capacity of Pakistani enterprises”.

Chinese Ambassador, Sun Weidon also spoke on the occasion.