By Asghar Ali Mubarak
Islamabad: 31st meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) was held on Monday at 2:00 pm in Constitution Room, Parliament House, Islamabad under the Chairmanship of Mr. Sher Ali Arbab, MNA.
2. The Committee was briefed by Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission, Additional Secretary, M/o Planning, Development and Special Initiatives, Secretary, National Food Security and Research, Additional Secretary, M/o Science and Technology, Joint Secretary, M/o Interior, Director General Projects, NADRA on the forthcoming 10th Joint Coordination Committee (JCC) meeting between China and Pakistan and the proposed development projects therein.
3. While providing compliance over the Committee’s previous recommendation regarding reforms in visa regime, Joint Secretary, M/o Interior apprised that 191 countries have been made online to expedite the process of issuance of work visa. By going online work visa for three months will now be provided within 48 hours. The Committee expressed satisfaction over the initiative and observed that investors needed to be facilitated as the success of CPEC hinges upon boosting trade and investment.
4. The Committee thoroughly examined the agreed projects in Joint Working Groups thereby to be presented as deliverables in the forthcoming 10th Joint Coordination Committee (JCC) between China and Pakistan and recommended that the remaining deliverables by all concerned Ministries/Divisions should be forwarded to the Committee at the earliest so that tangible progress of all the projects pertaining to every segment of CPEC could be evaluated and accelerated.5. The Committee highlighted the importance of ML-1 project and recommended to expedite the process of the extension of Peshawar-Torkham section in Main Line-1(ML-1) project under CPEC and adding electric traction component in Main Line-1(ML-1) project so as to reduce the cost and protect the environment. Hon. Chairman remarked that the vision of CPEC is to enhance trade and investment by ensuring regional connectivity.
It is, therefore, undeniably important to boost transit and bilateral trade with Afghanistan and expedite the projects/initiatives which enhance Pakistan’s connectivity with Afghanistan and facilitate Afghans who are keen to invest in Pakistan. By constructively engaging Afghanistan, Pakistan can also have easier access to Central Asia.
6. While receiving briefing over the projects related to science and technology, the Committee remarked that there was a huge potential of Pakistan in the areas of science and technology and the private sector was ready to invest in this field.
Therefore, instead of throwing debilitating burden on national exchequer, efforts needed to be exerted to attract maximum investment of private sector in such field. Moreover, massive scope of Information Technologies should also be aligned with science and technology and exploited to create new avenues for young generation to be equipped with modern technology and skills.
7. The Committee further observed that Pakistan has vast agriculture potential under CPEC framework which needed to be exploited and recommended that apart from the areas in which Chinese are currently engaged, the concerned Ministry should also identify new areas so that Pakistan’s huge scope in agriculture sector could be utilized in letter and spirt and the people attached to this sector could harvest maximum benefits.
8. The meeting was attended by Mr. Noor Alam Khan, MNA, Mr. Umer Aslam Khan, MNA, Mir Khan Muhammad Jamali, MNA, Ms. Nafeesa Inayatullah Khan Khattak, MNA, Mr. Ghous Bux Khan Mahar, MNA, Mr. Ahsan Iqbal Chaudhry, MNA, Mr. Murtaza Javed Abbasi, MNA, Ms. Mehnaz Akber Aziz, MNA and Mr. Zahid Akram Durrani, MNA.
