WEF Reports More Pakistanis Sharing Fruits of Economic Growth

[Riaz Haq]

More and more Pakistanis are sharing in their nation's development, according to World Economic Forum (WEF). Pakistan ranks 47 among 74 emerging economies ranked for inclusive development by WEF released recently at Davos, Switzerland. Inclusive development in the South Asian country has increased 7.56% over the last 5 years. World Economic Forum assesses inclusive development  based on "living standards, environmental sustainability and protection of future generations from further indebtedness."

WEF Inclusive Development Report 2018:

The WEF inclusive development index ranks Pakistan at 47, below Bangladesh at 34 but above India at 62. The 7.56% rate of increase in inclusive development in Pakistan is higher than 4.55% in Bangladesh and 2.29% in India. China ranks 26 and its inclusion is rising at a rate 2.94%.

WEF IDI Rankings. Source: WEF

Pakistan has improved its ranking from 52 last year to 47 this year, while India's rank worsened to 62 this year from 60 last year.  China's ranking also worsened from 15 last year to 26 this year.

Another WEF report compiled by Oxfam said the richest 1% of Indians took 73% of the wealth generated last year.

Income Share Change in Asia's Poorest Quintile: 

The share of national income of Pakistan's poorest 20% of households has increased from 8.1% to 9.6% since 1990 , according to the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and Pacific (NESCAP) Statistical Yearbook for 2015.  It's the highest share of income for the bottom income quintile in the region.

The countries where people in the poorest income quintile have increased their share of total income include Kyrgyzstan (from 2.5 per cent to 7.7), the Russian Federation (4.4 per cent to 6.5), Kazakhstan (7.5 per cent to 9.5) and Pakistan (8.1 per cent to 9.6).  India's bottom income quintile has seen its share of income drop from 9% to 7.8%.

Bottom Quintile Income Share Change. Source: UNESCAP Statistical Ye...

Although more people in China have lifted themselves out of poverty than any other country in the world, the poorest quintile in that country now accounts for a lower percentage of total income (4.7 per cent) than in the early 1990s (8.0 per cent). The same unfortunate trend is observed for a number of other countries, including in Indonesia (from 9.4 per cent to 7.6) and in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (from 9.3 per cent to 7.6).

CPEC Transforming Least Developed Regions:

Development of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is transforming Pakistan.  Among the parts of the contry being transformed the most by CPEC are some of the least developed regions in Balochistan and Sindh, specifically Gwadar and Thar Desert. Here is more on these regions:

Gwadar Port City:

Gwadar is booming. It's being called the next Shenzhen by some and the next Hong Kong by others as an emerging new port city in the region to rival Dubai. Land prices in Gwadar are skyrocketing, according to media reports. Gwadar Airport air traffic growth of 73% was the fastest of all airports in Pakistan where overall air traffic grew by 23% last year, according to Anna Aero publication.  A new international airport is now being built in Gwadar to handle soaring passenger and cargo traffic.

In addition to building a major seaport that will eventually handle 300-400 million tons of cargo in a year, China has built a school, sent doctors and pledged about $500 million in grants for an airport, hospital, college and badly-needed water supply infrastructure for Gwadar, according to Reuters.

The Chinese grants include $230 million for a new international airport in Gwadar, one of the largest such disbursements China has made abroad, according to researchers and Pakistani officials.

New development work in Gwadar is expected to create as many as 20,000 jobs for the local population.

Thar Desert:

Thar, one of the least developed regions of Pakistan, is seeing unprecedented development activity in energy and infrastructure projects.  New roads, airports and buildings are being built along with coal mines and power plants as part of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). There are construction workers and machinery visible everywhere in the desert. Among the key beneficiaries of this boom are Thari Hindu women who are being employed by Sindh Engro Coal Mining Company (SECMC) as part of the plan to employ locals. Highlighted in recent news reports are two Hindu women in particular: Kiran Sadhwani, an engineer and Gulaban, a truck driver.

Kiran Sadhwani, a Thari Hindu Woman Engineer. Source: Express Tribune

Thar Population:

The region has a population of 1.6 million. Most of the residents are cattle herders. Majority of them are Hindus.  The area is home to 7 million cows, goats, sheep and camel. It provides more than half of the milk, meat and leather requirement of the province. Many residents live in poverty. They are vulnerable to recurring droughts.  About a quarter of them live where the coal mines are being developed, according to a report in The Wire.

Hindu Woman Truck Driver in Thar, Pakistan. Source: Reuters

Some of them are now being employed in development projects.  A recent report talked of an underground coal gasification pilot project near the town of Islamkot where "workers sourced from local communities rested their heads after long-hour shifts".

Summary:

More and more Pakistanis are sharing the fruits of development in Pakistan as shown by the World Economic Forum report on inclusive growth. WEF ranks Pakistan at 47, below Bangladesh at 34 but above India at 62. The 7.56% rate of increase in inclusive development in Pakistan is higher than 4.55% in Bangladesh and 2.29% in India.   The share of national income of Pakistan's poorest 20% of households has increased from 8.1% to 9.6% since 1990 , according to the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and Pacific (NESCAP) Statistical Yearbook for 2015.  It's the highest share of income for the bottom income quintile in the region.  Development of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is transforming Pakistan.  Among the parts of the country being transformed the most by CPEC are some of the least developed regions in Balochistan and Sindh, specifically Gwadar and Thar Desert. 

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[Riaz Haq]

Mega #oil city to be constructed in #Gwadar as part of #CPEC. Plan includes oil terminal and storage tanks, oil #refinery and #petrochemical #industrial complex. #Pakistan #China

https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/271367-mega-oil-city-to-be-constru...

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has decided to construct a mega oil city at Gwadar on 80,000 acres under much hyped China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

This mega oil city will be used for transportation of imported oil through the Gwadar Port to China. The oil will be imported from Gulf and will be stored at this proposed mega Gwadar oil city.

The distance to China will be reduced, and it will take just seven days to cover the distance from Gwadar to Chinese border as import through western China took almost 40 days by covering double distance.

“We have forwarded PC-1 to the Ministry of Petroleum for acquiring 80,000 acres for this mega oil city at Gwadar with estimated cost of Rs10 billion. There will be additional cost for construction of its storage and other aligned facilities with the help of investments,” Director General, Gwadar Development Authority (GDA), Dr Sajjad H Baloch, told Islamabad based journalists who visited the Gwadar Port last week. This visit was arranged by the Planning Commission in order to show case different ongoing projects under CPEC.

A refinery, petrochemical industries and storage will be established in the oil city, he added.

The Gwadar oil city, he said, would be used for storing oil for its onward transportation to China. Usually, it takes 40 days for vessels to transport oil to China but via Pakistan it will reach China within 7 days, he added. He said that the total area of Gwadar Model City is 290,000 acres which includes 160,000 acres of residential area while the remaining is for industrial purposes. A Chinese company is working on the Model City Plan and it will be ready by August 14, 2018.

To another query regarding different measures for overcoming water shortages at Gwadar, he said that the current water requirement stood at six million gallons per day and there is no direct water supply taking place to the area. Two MGD water is being supplied from two water small dams through tankers and nearest distance is almost 70 kilometres.

“We have a deficit of four million gallons per day in water supply to the area,” he said and added that by 2020, the water requirement of Gwadar would be 12 million gallons per day, for which additional arrangements were made to get 10 million gallons of water.

New Gwadar International Airport: Earlier, the journalists visited the site of proposed new airport at Gwadar. The China Airport Construction Group Engineering Company representative Jianxin Liao told the visiting journalists that they were conducting soil investigation on the basis of which, the design of new airport at Gwadar will be finalised. He said that the procured land for this new airport stood at 4,300 acres, and this airport will possess capacity to handle one million passengers on annual basis. He said that by April this year the design will be completed after which the cost of the project will be estimated. It will be the biggest airport of Pakistan.

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) representative Zohaib Soomro said that the initial cost of the project was estimated at $228 million, but its cost would be finalised after completion of design, and it would be estimated again.

The sources said that it would be premature to give any assessment related to cost, but it would be more than $2 billion to $2.7 billion at least if we want to construct state of the art airport in accordance with international standards.

[Riaz Haq]

#India's #GDP "Growth (under #Modi) has dipped below the 30-year average" Economist Kaushik Basu. #ModiAtDavos

http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/interview/growth-has-dipped-below-t...

The former Chief Economic Adviser on India’s current slowdown in economic growth and the mix of policies needed to reignite it
In a career spanning more than four decades, economist Kaushik Basu has donned many hats. He was Chief Economic Adviser to the Government of India (2009-2012) and Chief Economist of the World Bank (2012-2016). At present, he is Professor of Economics and the C. Marks Professor of International Studies at Cornell University, U.S. He is also President of the International Economic Association for a three-year term (2017-2020). A prolific author, Mr. Basu explains why demonetisation was a bad idea and the need for the Goods and Services Tax (GST).

You have been a vocal critic of demonetisation and its intended purpose. Do you think its immediate effects are behind us? And, conversely, if there are increased digital transactions and tax scrutiny, as claimed, will that eventually lead to more growth?
I believe that demonetisation’s worst effects on the economy are behind us now. I do not think it will confer any long-run benefits in terms of digitalisation because that is a slow, natural process. There is no way that an emerging economy like India, with more than half the population still living in the informal sector, can leapfrog advanced economies and get there by a simple policy intervention. The main damage of demonetisation is to India’s reputation as a professionally run economy, since it was an uncalled-for jolt to the market.

You have been a consistent supporter of the other major reform, the GST. Is the current multi-tiered GST design optimal, considering that much of the voiced distress comes from small businesses? The textile sector, for example.
The GST was needed and I am glad that the government managed the political process to get it through. But it has been poorly implemented. For such a large policy shift, the planning and implementation design should have been much better. Also, it should not be too multi-tiered, which is both inconvenient and makes one wonder if this is a sign of sector-specific cronyism. Once we go past these teething troubles, the GST should aid efficiency and growth.

Has the Narendra Modi government leveraged the historic mandate it received, in terms of economic policy? Is there scope for further reform, which could possibly be seen in the Union Budget to be presented soon?
The broad policy continuity that we have seen in India — the GST, the effort to manage fiscal policy in ways similar to what happened before 2014 — is India’s strength. Yes, as always, a lot depends on the Budget, and we are all waiting to see what new initiatives are announced. But in fairness to the Ministry of Finance, India’s challenge is not a matter of fiscal policy alone. India’s economy is doing poorly on several fronts. Consider exports — they have dragged, with India’s trade deficit with China growing rapidly. Exports did seem to grow well from April to November last year, with an annual growth of 12.3%. But it was a time when several emerging economies did well and India’s performance fell short of many other nations, like Indonesia and Vietnam whose exports grew by 16% and 24%, respectively. I believe that India’s long-term prospects are very good, but to get out of the current morass, it needs a professionally designed combination of fiscal, monetary and international trade policy initiatives.

[Riaz Haq]

Pakistan’s Quest for Inclusive Growth
Feb 18, 2019 VAQAR AHMED

https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/pakistan-government-su...

Pakistan’s new government is understandably preoccupied with short-term economic problems, but it must also lay the foundations for a more inclusive long-term growth model. If it succeeds, the Pakistani economy might finally start to meet the rising aspirations of the country's young population.

For starters, the authorities need to attract the best people to work for the public sector. At present, Pakistan’s civil servants lack the strategic guidance and motivation to implement economic revival plans. Performance-based incentives are weak, and multiple layers of accountability add to the institutional sclerosis.

Pakistan also needs a bold vision for growth to replace the current incoherent mix of five-year federal development plans and provincial growth strategies. The Center for International Private Enterprise has made a strong case for a credible bottom-up economic plan to boost agricultural productivity, improve manufacturing competitiveness, and support startups in the services sector.

A third priority is to ensure that growth is inclusive, just, and sustainable. The “Economy of Tomorrow” project, conducted by the Pakistan-based Sustainable Development Policy Institute – where I work – and the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, has highlighted several key requirements in this regard.

Fiscal policy should be progressive, promoting equitable growth and economic participation by all segments of society. Furthermore, trade policy should be resistant to elite capture and take consumer welfare into account. And energy, water, and urban-management policies should respect natural resources and the environment. The latter is especially important because Pakistan already suffers from the effects of climate change in the form of recurrent, environment-degrading droughts.

Fourth, the state must create room for entrepreneurship. With over 60% of Pakistan’s population under the age of 25, the public sector clearly cannot absorb all new entrants to the labor force. The solution may instead lie with startups and small and medium-size enterprises. An earlier report by the British Council Pakistan, for example, indicated a surge in startups in diverse sectors.

The number of young Pakistani entrepreneurs is rising significantly, and not only because of the country’s youthful population. Rural-to-urban migration, new public-sector universities, incubators, and accelerator initiatives have also helped. Government policy should now aim to reduce the failure rate of startups and help them to grow. It must also ensure that startups are an option for young people – including women – from all regions and economic backgrounds, including by removing barriers to market information and credit.

Finally, the government should help prepare Pakistan to embrace the emerging technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Future developments in artificial intelligence, robotics, 3D printing, cloud computing, blockchain, biotechnology, and augmented reality will have a huge economic impact. Adapting to these technologies will require new government initiatives and updated curricula in Pakistani universities.

[Riaz Haq]

How ‘Good Governance’ in 38 Countries Affects Living Standards

https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2019-quality-of-government-and-l...

If you believe that vibrant democracies guarantee good government or that robust economic output ensures a better quality of life for a nation’s citizens, think again.

All over the world, stable economies are facing restive moments. U.S. President Donald Trump was impeached in the House on Wednesday over charges of obstruction and abuse of power. U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson could be on the verge of delivering Brexit—three years after voters first chose to leave the European Union—after his Conservative Party won a resounding majority in last week’s general election. In local elections last month, Hong Kong overwhelmingly elected pro-Democracy council members as China seeks to clamp down on protests that have gripped the city for most of the year.

While there is a general correlation between a strong democracy and economic expansion and a better quality of life, research by the Los Angeles-based Berggruen Institute into 38 countries that make up 95% of global gross domestic product shows that’s not always the case. In several of the largest economies in the world—including mature democracies and developing countries—actual government performance is often the decisive factor.

China, which scores low on democracy, has undoubtedly been an economic success story, lifting hundreds of millions of people out of poverty and helping spur the global economy. But it faces a massive debt problem, and is perhaps approaching a ceiling and may need to allow more public participation in running government if it wants to guarantee a better quality of life for its people in the future.

In contrast, the U.S. hasn’t excelled at translating its high gross domestic product growth rate into increases in the quality of life, which has, in fact, decreased slightly over the past 14 years, the Institute said. This is particularly notable in health and education, where the problem isn’t quality, but affordability.

“Growing economic inequality and wealth disparity could be key factors, particularly after the 2007–2008 financial crisis,” according to the report. “Although the economy rebounded after the crisis, the gains were disproportionately concentrated in the top tier of the U.S. population, with 95% of growth going to the top 1% of the households.”

Even in established democracies, actual government performance can trump other factors in determining quality of life. Italy, for example, has a lively democracy, but the responsiveness of successive governments has been poor, and as a result living standards are stagnant at best.

“Italy ranks surprisingly high with respect to quality of democracy scores,” according to the report. “Yet the availability of feedback mechanisms and other democratic processes seems to have no additional impact on the quality of government.”

Social movements that target reform in local and national bureaucracies could help the country escape stagnation, the report found.

A failure of good governance also undermines progress in two middle-income BRICs countries—South Africa and Brazil.

South Africa suffers from world-beating unemployment, high crime and a poor education system that remains skewed along racial lines, some of which can be attributed to the legacy of apartheid. And while it scores relatively well on democracy, its poor performance in addressing inequality—which is higher than at the end of white-minority rule—and corruption may be more a result of the lack of political will than the state’s capacity, according to the report.

[Riaz Haq]

New index says #India is more #corrupt than #Pakistan . Sponsored by Los Angeles-based research organisation Berggruen Institute, the governance index ranked performance on 3 key indices — Quality of #Democracy, Quality of #Government and Quality of #Life.

https://theprint.in/india/overachiever-in-democracy-india-trails-pa...

On the “existence and perception” of corruption in a country, China was considered the most corrupt with a score of 39 points and India came next at 28 points. Pakistan was considered the least corrupt with just 13 points.


India ranked poorly on business regulation, public health and civil justice, according to the recently released Berggruen Governance Index 2019.

The report looked at data over 14 years (2004-2018) from 38 countries and covered 95 per cent of the global GDP and 75 per cent of the global population.

India versus China versus Pakistan
Based on the sub-index Judicial Impartiality, which refers to “a citizen’s treatment in the course of judicial procedures”, India scored the most with 28 data points, Pakistan scored 14 and China 5.

With regard to Quality of Education, China took the lead at 80 points while India and Pakistan scored 30.

On the “existence and perception” of corruption in a country, China was considered the most corrupt with a score of 39 points and India came next at 28 points. Pakistan was considered the least corrupt with just 13 points.

On ‘politicised bureaucracy’, which is the influence of political connections and ideology in the “hiring and firing practices” of bureaucracy, India ranked highest of the three countries with 59 points, China came next with 23 and then Pakistan at 13.

With regards to Shadow Economy — the ability of the government to prevent economic activity from escaping its reach — China scored the highest (91 points), followed by India (57 points) and Pakistan (14 points).

Of the 38 countries, Sweden was the “overachiever” with the highest score in all three indices. UK achieved “more than expected in light of its GDP” overall, while the US performed “just above expectations” on Quality of Democracy, and just below in the remaining two indices.
----------------

If you believe that vibrant democracies guarantee good government or that robust economic output ensures a better quality of life for a nation’s citizens, think again.


China, which scores low on democracy, has undoubtedly been an economic success story, lifting hundreds of millions of people out of poverty and helping spur the global economy. But it faces a massive debt problem, and is perhaps approaching a ceiling and may need to allow more public participation in running government if it wants to guarantee a better quality of life for its people in the future.


In contrast, the U.S. hasn’t excelled at translating its high gross domestic product growth rate into increases in the quality of life, which has, in fact, decreased slightly over the past 14 years, the Institute said. This is particularly notable in health and education, where the problem isn’t quality, but affordability.

“Growing economic inequality and wealth disparity could be key factors, particularly after the 2007–2008 financial crisis,” according to the report. “Although the economy rebounded after the crisis, the gains were disproportionately concentrated in the top tier of the U.S. population, with 95% of growth going to the top 1% of the households.”

Even in established democracies, actual government performance can trump other factors in determining quality of life. Italy, for example, has a lively democracy, but the responsiveness of successive governments has been poor, and as a result living standards are stagnant at best.

“Italy ranks surprisingly high with respect to quality of democracy scores,” according to the report. “Yet the availability of feedback mechanisms and other democratic processes seems to have no additional impact on the quality of government.”

https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2019-quality-of-government-and-l...

[Riaz Haq]

Is it an institution, digital or social inclusion that matters for inclusive growth? A panel data analysis

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7320837/

This study empirically examines the impact of institutional quality, social inclusion and digital inclusion on inclusive growth across different economies characterized by different income groups. Particularly, the study examines the impact of institutions on inclusive growth by using the panel data for 83 countries over the period 2010–2017. For empirical specification, we used two-steps system-GMM estimation technique to tackle endogeneity and min–max normalized indexing technique to construct the indices for inclusive growth, social inclusion, digital inclusion and institutional quality. The results of this study show that there is a direct link between institutional quality and inclusive growth for a higher-income group of countries but not in the rest of the income groups. Contribution of social and digital inclusivity is significant in all three income groups, except for social inclusion in middle-income countries. From the policy point of view, these findings suggest that establishing and strengthening the institutional structure in low- and middle-income countries can contribute towards better and higher inclusive growth.

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Interestingly, China (with score 58.52) is ranked higher in terms of inclusive growth than Japan (score: 56.10). Sri Lanka is having score 48.13 has a higher literacy rate than India, which is growing more inclusively than it, as its IGI score value is 50.24. It may be due to the dominance of some variables such as employment to population ratio, income inequalities or per capita income growth in the sample for one country and which may not be high for another country. It is interesting to note that the IGI score of Pakistan (53.52), which has lower economic growth rates than Sri Lanka and India but performed better in terms of inclusive growth than these nations. The results of Pakistan are consistent with Saima and Javed (2011). The performance of Uzbekistan and Nigeria is the worst in terms of inclusive growth. The gap between middle income and low-income groups is small (5 to 6 average points) that implies middle-income countries might be growing rapidly as compared to low-income nations, but in terms of inclusive growth does not significantly differ from low-income countries.

Countries ranking based on institutional quality index indicates that high-income countries are ranked at the top, as shown in Fig. 3. Finland ranked at the top with scores 94.62 which shows the best institutional structure in the world, followed by Norway (93.74), Sweden (93.12). The largest economy in the world (USA) ranked in the 13th position with a score value of 84.24. According to this ranking, Zimbabwe has the poorest institutional structure with a score of 27.77.

Figures 4 and ​and55 portrays an accumulative picture based on the inclusive growth index (IGI) and institutional quality index (IQI).2 These figures indicate the imperative economic rationale of why high-income countries have a higher level of inclusive growth. This implies that as income level increases, institutional quality improves, which helps in achieving inclusive growth, as predicted by North (1994) World Bank (2002) and North and Davis (1970).

[Riaz Haq]

For a long time we have known that improved transport accessibility leads to more opportunities and better lives.

ANDREW DABALENSHOMIK MEHNDIRATTA|JANUARY 24, 2022

https://blogs.worldbank.org/transport/knowledge-action-new-way-maxi...

Accessibility describes how easy (or difficult) it is for people to reach services and opportunities. When you look at the data, significant accessibility gaps persist around the world. Globally 51% of individuals living in low-income countries reside within an hour of a city compared to 91% of individuals in high-income countries. This limited access to urban centers hinders rural populations from accessing services and opportunities, including healthcare, education, jobs, and markets. Gender plays an important role as well: as these findings from Pakistan illustrate, women typically must cover greater distances to reach basic services. Even for people living in cities, accessibility may vary depending on the availability of public transport, the impact of traffic congestion.

Lack of access is systematically linked to inferior development outcomes, even more so if motorized transport is not available. The inability to travel to healthcare facilities, for instance, has been associated with increased mortality and morbidity from treatable conditions. Conversely, improved access is often synonymous with improved development outcomes. For example, women with access to roads in Pakistan are twice more likely (14% vs 28%) to go to pre-natal consultations. In rural Morocco, girls’ enrollment in primary schools increased from 17% to 54% when their access to roads improved.

Looking particularly at rural roads investments, the construction of a new road can lead to a chain of positive impacts. When a rural community gets connected to the road network, people who could not reach healthcare, schools, or other essential services before are suddenly able to do so. Workers can access more and better jobs. Farmers can sell their products in more distant markets. But these outcomes can only materialize if rural road projects are carefully planned and prioritized. Also, while investments in road networks are often a critical first step toward enhancing accessibility, they should be integrated into a broader investment package targeting social and technological development overall.

However, transforming this knowledge into action had been hard to operationalize. Lack of data regarding the transport network, opportunities, limited computing power to calculate travel times in large areas and lack of consistent framework had made it hard for us to take this academic research into an operational reality. We needed to understand exactly which transport projects will have the highest impact on accessibility? How would this accessibility transform into household welfare? And how do we create tools to inform planning and investment decisions?

To address these questions, the World Bank’s Transport and Poverty and Equity teams jointly developed a new framework that relies on high-resolution mapping and other sophisticated analytical tools to provide a more granular view of how rural road infrastructure can benefit communities.

We are now able to deploy all that knowledge into operational action, by developing an analytical framework that highlights spatial disparities in access to services and opportunities, calculates the expected gains in accessibility from investments into road infrastructure and thereby informs the placement of transport investments throughout the region.

[Riaz Haq]

CPEC Results According to Wang Wenbin of China

https://twitter.com/bilalgilani/status/1677391745112477696?s=20

Bilal I Gilani
@bilalgilani
CPEC projects are creating 192,000 jobs, generating 6,000MW of power, building 510 km (316 miles) of highways, and expanding the national transmission network by 886 km (550 miles),” Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told reporters in Beijing."


Associated Press of Pakistan: On July 5, Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif while addressing a ceremony to mark a decade of signing of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), said that CPEC has been playing a key role in transforming Pakistan’s economic landscape. He also said that the mega project helped Pakistan progress in the region and beyond. What is your response?

Wang Wenbin: The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is a signature project of China-Pakistan cooperation in the new era, and an important project under the Belt and Road Initiative. This year marks the 10th anniversary of the launch of CPEC. After ten years of development, a “1+4” cooperation layout has been formed, with the CPEC at the center and Gwadar Port, transport infrastructure, energy and industrial cooperation being the four key areas. Projects under CPEC are flourishing all across Pakistan, attracting USD 25.4 billion of direct investment, creating 192,000 jobs, producing 6,000 megawatts of electric power, building 510 kilometers of highways and adding 886 kilometers to the core national transmission network. CPEC has made tangible contribution to the national development of Pakistan and connectivity in the region. China and Pakistan have also explored new areas for cooperation under the framework of CPEC, creating new highlights in cooperation on agriculture, science and technology, telecommunication and people’s wellbeing.

China stands ready to work with Pakistan to build on the past achievements and follow the guidance of the important common understandings between the leaders of the two countries on promoting high-quality development of CPEC to boost the development of China and Pakistan and the region and bring more benefits to the people of all countries.

https://www.fmprc.gov.cn/eng/xwfw_665399/s2510_665401/2511_665403/2...