ISLAMABAD, June 9: Foreign Affairs Adviser Sartaj Aziz Thursday released the government’s three-year performance report and said the most important achievement was “undoubtedly the path breaking transformation in Pakistan’s strategic partnership with China.”
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif assumed office in June 2013 after his Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) won the parliamentary elections a month earlier.
“The most visible manifestation of this transformation was the launch, in April 2015, of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) involving Chinese investment of 46 billion US dollars in energy, infrastructure, communication projects and for developing the Gwadar Port, Aziz at a news conference.
He said the CPEC’s implementation will lay a solid foundation for enhanced regional trade, integration, connectivity and industrial investment, adding China has already become Pakistan’s largest trading partner with two way trade at 19 billion dollars in 2015.
He said Pakistan also succeeded to enhance cooperation with Central Asian Republics and three important projects with CARs nations have already been finalized including CASA-1000 which would bring surplus electricity from Kyrgyz Republic and Tajikistan to Afghanistan and Pakistan, TAPI gas pipeline would transmit natural gas from Turkmenistan to Afghanistan, Pakistan and India; Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline project is also being pursued. On Afghanistan, he said Pakistan has been making sincere efforts to deepen its engagement with Afghanistan and address post 9/11 mistrust, by facilitating reconciliation talks between the Afghan Government and the Taliban. – DNA
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