ISLAMABAD, February 13: Minister for Finance Shaukat Tarin has said that China will support the establishment of special economic zones (SEZs) in Pakistan.
Speaking at the event chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan to interact with former ambassadors and representatives of think tanks on Sunday, the finance minister said that China has helped in building infrastructure and connectivity projects under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and now they would support the establishment of SEZs, so that trickle-down effects can be fully reaped.
Speaking on the occasion, Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi said that the prime minister’s meeting with President XI was marked with great outstanding. The clarity he witnessed over such meetings had not happened in the past which is another encouraging sign, he added.
The foreign minister further said the leadership of the two countries conveyed clear messages over the core issues. They removed certain concerns over the CPEC projects which were not based upon facts. The spoilers against CPEC had been playing their negative parts, he added.
On the Afghanistan issue, Pakistan and China shared unanimous views, Qureshi said, adding as there had been close coordination and collaboration between the two countries.
Furthermore, they had agreed over a future roadmap. A meeting of Afghanistan’s immediate neighbours, besides a trilateral meeting of Pakistan, China and Afghanistan would be soon convened to expedite efforts to avert humanitarian crises in Afghanistan.
Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry comparing the number of CPEC projects under the incumbent governments with the previous one, said now the number of working groups had been increased to 11, they had completed 7 projects in the last three years besides, a completion of 453kms of roads projects was achieved. A further investment of $3.45 billion had been made. He further said that 3 new projects had been added, the power generation stood around 3340 MW in 2018 which had now increased to 5864 MW during the last three and half years. Not a single transmission line was added by the previous government, but they had installed 880 kms new transmission lines, he added. TLTP
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