Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: The China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is crucial for global economic recovery in the post-pandemic era and building a community with a shared future for mankind by following a path of cooperation, unity and common development, said a Pakistani political economist.
“Enhanced constructive engagements based on the principle of win-win cooperation is the need of the hour to overcome the challenges posed by the still raging pandemic, and ensure sustainable global economic recovery,” Shakeel Ahmad Ramay, director of the China Study Center at the Sustainable Development Policy Institute, an Islamabad-based think-tank, told in a recent interview.
He said that China is strongly committed to implementing the BRI for the common good, which is evident from the recently held high-level conference on the Belt and Road cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region. “It (conference) shows the strong commitment of China to global cooperation and sustainable recovery and development … China has assured its support to BRI countries. China is willing to provide market opportunities, investment opportunities and growth opportunities for global recovery,” the expert said. Terming the BRI a proactive constructive economic cooperation plan, Ramay said that despite the global economic disruptions and worldwide lockdowns, China did not pause the initiative and continue to pour investments into various countries, especially the least developed countries. China kept on investing in BRI programs when the world was going through a serious economic fallout due to COVID-19, giving the much-needed breathing space to a number of countries, including Pakistan, he said. He said the projects under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), an important pilot project of the BRI, progressed steadily during the COVID-19 pandemic, adding that the projects also helped generate employments and were a great relief in the hardest of times.
