A Corridor of Power

Despite political events in the country created by some narrow vested inter- ests, the Seventh Joint Coordination Committee (JCC) meeting on the China- Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) was successfully held a month and a half ago in Islamabad.

Our Chinese counterparts showed resolve and commitment to successfully complete all CPEC projects in a timely man- ner. The Seventh JCC also offi cially approved the Long Term Plan (LTP) of CPEC. It is stan- dard practice around the world for a bilateral agreement not to be made public unless it is approved by both parties, but unfortunately some cynics in the media tried to generate unnecessary controversy by publishing an incorrect version of the LTP. As promised, we have released the offi cial version of the LTP for both the public and the media.

The development of any country is based on its industrialization process. The qualita- tive difference between the developed and the developing countries is the difference in their degrees of industrialization. With developed countries now entering a post- industrial age, developing countries are still struggling to complete their industrialization process and modernize their economies.

The Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) has believed in, and consistently strived for, the industrialization of Pakistan. In light of this vision, the PML-N government initiated work on CPEC immediately after coming into pow- er in 2013. CPEC has attracted worldwide attention due to its significant contribution toward removing energy and infrastruc- ture growth bottlenecks from Pakistan’s economy. It provides Pakistan with a great opportunity to leapfrog some, and expedite other, processes of industrialization.

The LTP provides a conceptual frame- work for CPEC up to 2030, and also delivers a framework for the industrialization of Pakistan. To finalize the LTP, the govern- ment of Pakistan consulted the provinces, the federal ministries, and their respective technical groups. The plan is completely in line with the seven pillars of the Pakistan Vision 2025, which are founded on the eco- nomic principles of inclusive and sustainable development. The seven salient features of the LTP are connectivity, energy, trade and industrial parks, agricultural development and poverty alleviation, tourism, cooperation in areas concerning people’s livelihoods and non-governmental exchanges and financial cooperation. The spirit of the LTP is best cap- tured in the following statement from the document itself “...CPEC will greatly speed up the industrialization and urbanization pro- cess in Pakistan and help it grow into a highly inclusive, globally competitive and prosper- ous country capable of providing high-quality life to its citizens.”

Route to success

Below are some of the signifi cant features of CPEC’s long-term plan to illustrate its central role in the industrialization of Pakistan.

Connectivity is the cornerstone of de- velopment. It increases the flow of goods, information and people across regions. That is why an integrated transport system is central to the LTP. It includes the construc- tion and development of Kashgar-Islamabad, Peshawar-Islamabad-Karachi, Hakla-Dera Ismail Khan, Sukkur-Gwadar Port and Dera Ismail Khan-Quetta-Sohrab-Gwadar road infrastructure, which seeks to improve connectivity within Pakistan and intercon- nectivity with China. The development of Gwadar Port City, Gwadar airport and Easy Bay expressway are going to transform the city of Gwadar into a maritime trade hub and a new smart port city for the region. It will also lead to the industrialization of Balochistan.

Information technology is another cru- cial aspect for development. In this regard, we have laid a cross-border fi ber optic cable between Pakistan and China, and agreed to cooperate in promoting the technologies of the fourth industrial revolution in Pakistan. In the energy sector, both countries will enhance cooperation in the fi elds of oil and gas, electricity and power grids. The focus is on thermal power, hydropower, coal gas- ifi cation, renewable power generation and modernizing power transmission networks. CPEC has already addressed the major en- ergy bottleneck in Pakistan, and over half of the 10,000 MW energy added recently to the national grid comes from CPEC cooperation.

To build an industrial base, new industrial parks and special economic zones will be built all over the country. Both countries will cooperate to improve efficiency in the textile and garment industries, which together make up the backbone of Pakistan’s export sector. Engineering-based industries will also be devel- oped in Pakistan.

It is important to note that no country has successfully industrialized without also modernizing its agricultural sector. CPEC will allow us to modernize agriculture through the introduction of new technologies such as biological breeding and drip irrigation. The emphasis is to improve the income of small farmers by increasing their productivity and effi ciency.

Coastal tourism can also become a new niche for Pakistan. CPEC will allow us to build coastal leisure and vacationing centers across the Keti-Bander-Karachi, Sonmiani-Ormara, Jhal Jhao, Gwadar and Jiwani routes. CPEC is about cooperation at all levels between both countries, including non-government orga- nizations and people-to-people interactions. For the cross-fertilization of ideas and cul- tures, the exchange of students, tourists and academics will be an integral component of the corridor’s plans.

Pakistan and China will also be enhancing monetary cooperation between their central banks. Both countries agree on bilateral cur- rency swap arrangements and would prefer making payments in renminbi and rupees regarding CPEC projects rather than any third- party currency.

Three­stage plan

According to the LTP, the implementa- tion of CPEC will take place in three phases, each with clear goals. In the first phase, to be achieved by 2020, the major bottlenecks in Pakistan’s socio-economic development will be addressed in their entirety, and “CPEC shall start to boost the economic growth along it for both countries,” as stated on page 10 of the LTP document. The second phase will be com- pleted by 2025, when all the infrastructure of CPEC will be ready and all industrial proj- ects will have been completed. As a result, CPEC will have a major impact on the liveli- hoods of people living along the corridor. The goals of Vision 2025 will be achieved and there will be more balanced regional economic development.

The third phase of the LTP will mature by 2030, and by then the mechanisms for indigenous, inclusive and sustainable eco- nomic growth will be in place in Pakistan. As laid out by the LTP, “CPEC’s role in stimulating economic growth in Central Asia and South Asia [will be] brought into holistic play, and South Asia shall grow into an international economic zone with global infl uence,”

Pakistan is a democratic country where provincial governments are not only autono- mous, but are also led by different political parties which are staunch opponents of each other. Nonetheless, the federal government and all provincial governments are united in making the LTP and CPEC a game changer for Pakistan.

Pakistan is a country full of promise and potential but due to the strategic mistakes of the past, we haven’t realized our true devel- opment potential. The PML-N government is committed to prioritizing the economic interests of the country by engaging in the geoeconomics, as opposed to the geopoli- tics, of the region through CPEC.

CPEC is a major opportunity for Pakistan to transform itself as an economic na- tion and become a regional hub for trade, commerce and manufacturing. Without industrialization we cannot resolve many of our socio-economic problems, and CPEC represents a fantastic chance to become an industrialized country. The sustainability of this qualitative shift mandates the collective support of all the stakeholders in our na- tion, including the media, to turn this dream project borne of the Pakistan-China friend- ship into an everlasting joint enterprise for a shared future and prosperity.