Interview: CPEC bringing socio-economic development for Pakistan: official

ISLAMABAD, July 17 (Xinhua) -- The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a flagship project of China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), has been bringing socio-economic development for Pakistan and improving people's livelihood, said a Pakistani official.

A host of projects under the CPEC being implemented in Pakistan have been helping the country in generating employments, promoting socio-economic benefits for the locals, and lifting the poor masses out of poverty, Chairman of the CPEC Authority Asim Saleem Bajwa told Xinhua in an interview.

Expressing satisfaction at the pace of the work on the CPEC projects, Bajwa said that CPEC has entered the second phase after the successful completion of the first, which has filled the voids of energy and communication infrastructure in the country.

"The impact of the second phase will be much larger than the phase one," he said, adding that the second phase of CPEC will connect the private sectors of Pakistan and China, bring in more private investments, boost cooperation in agriculture and science and technology, and initiate an era of industrialization through the establishment of special economic zones.

The Pakistani official said that Pakistan's strategic Gwadar port developing under CPEC is being connected with the rest of the country through better road infrastructure to give impetus to the national economy and enhance regional connectivity and trade.

On the upcoming meeting of the Joint Cooperation Committee meeting of CPEC, Bajwa said that Pakistan aimed to further expand the scope of cooperation with China in various fields.

"We hope to achieve expansion and consolidation of the CPEC projects, and expect to broaden the base of cooperation," he said.

The official said that many countries are learning China for economic growth and development.

Despite challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the economic growth of China remained impressive, he said.

"China will open up to the world more, there will be more opportunities. we will see more of Chinese investment around the world and the BRI is one vehicle, which will take the Chinese investment to all other regions," he added.