By Asghar Ali Mubarak
ISLAMABAD: National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervez Ashraf on Thursday urged the media to highlight the benefits of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) as it was crucial, especially in the context of false propaganda against it.
“It is the media which can bring the people of both countries closer than ever before and it is people-to-people contact which will make CPEC a win-win (project) for all,” he said while addressing a CPEC related funcation here.
“The negative propaganda against CPEC demands strong and deep contact between people of both countries,” Pervez Ashraf stressed.
He said the Pak-China friendship owed its foundation to Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who signed the first boundary agreement with China back in 1963. It had now become the cornerstone of Pakistan’s foreign policy, as Bilawal Bhutto soon after taking oath as the youngest Foreign Minister of Pakistan, had his first official bilateral visit to China, he added.
The Pak-China friendship – higher than the Himalayas – would continue to play its role for regional development especially by executing all projects of CPEC.
While mentioning the magnanimity of CPEC for the socio-economic development of the region, he said it had always been supported with full vigor by all successive governments in Pakistan.
He said Gwadar was the most important pillar of the CPEC project, and its development had transformed and connected the whole region.
Gwadar, he added, had now become the hub of trade and connectivity due to China’s earnest policy for its development.
Hydropower projects under CPEC would lessen the energy crisis in Pakistan, he said.
The NA speaker said it was the need of hour to dispel the misinformation and disinformation, which was being propagated against CPEC projects in Pakistan.
He said the parliamentary ownership was pivotal to carrying out CPEC projects. The Parliamentary Committee on CPEC was overseeing their fast completion, and it would continue to provide parliamentary ownership to CPEC, he added.
Acting Chinese ambassador in Pakistan also talked about the importance of CPEC to take the Pak-China friendship to new heights of cooperation and welfare for the people of both countries.
She said it was the media of both countries that could ensure and propagate the benefits reaped due to the completion of CPEC different projects.
