By Uzma Zafar
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Sunday said that his recent visit to China and bilateral meetings with the Chinese leadership further strengthened diplomatic ties between the two countries and will accelerate work on the ongoing projects of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
During an interaction with former ambassadors and think tanks in Islamabad, the prime minister stated that his visit was pertinent to the fast-changing global political map.
“The Chinese leadership appreciated the PTI government’s steps to overcome the covid-19 pandemic and the positive economic indicators,” said PM Imran, adding that Beijing reaffirmed economic support to Islamabad through specific projects.
Federal ministers and PM’s special assistants were also present during the interaction.
The premier said that he held a meeting with President Xi Jinping during his recent visit after a period of two years since the outbreak of the covid-19 pandemic.
“These bilateral meetings added further impetus to the CPEC projects,” he said, while completely dismissing the impression of a slow-paced work on these projects.
To a query on differences between the centre and provinces, Imran said that after the 18th amendment issues had surfaced with regard to decision-making and cited the difference in prices of wheat in Sindh and other provinces.
“When a decision is taken [in China], it is implemented, but in Pakistan, there is a lack of synergy amongst the federal and provincial governments,” the PM stated, referring to the functioning of the Chinese government.
“In China, the whole country works for wealth creation,” opined Imran, adding that all hurdles with regard to the Special Economic Zones (SMEs) will be removed.
To another question, the prime minister said that unless you had a two-third majority in the parliament in Pakistan, you could not enact legislation to bring in various reforms in the society, stressing that there is a requirement for “huge reforms”.
“These pieces of legislation, sometimes, are stuck in the parliament or in the Senate,” he maintained.
Consensus on Afghanistan issue
On Afghanistan, the premier said the international community had a consensus over the issue.
“Europe and all the neighbouring states of Afghanistan agreed to avoid humanitarian crisis there and stressed upon de-freezing of Afghan’s assets,” states PM Imran, adding that the US also understood and realised the situation.
“All had a consensus that steps should be taken so that Afghanistan is not descended into chaos,” he added.
Covid-19 pandemic
With regard to the ongoing covid-19 pandemic, Imran defended his government’s policy of ‘smart lockdown’.
The prime minister said the global pandemic had devastated the world and countries, such as, Italy, Spain and the UK opted for complete lockdowns but he went against such a precedent for which he was criticised by his political opponents.
“Imposing a complete lockdown would have created problems for the lower segments of society,” he said, citing the ongoing protests against such measures in the US, Germany and France.
“We are ahead of everyone as we have not only saved our economy but also lives,” the premier said.
To a query on his upcoming visit to Russia, Imran said that he had also met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Bishkek.
After his tweet about the negative use of freedom of speech to hurt Muslims’ feelings, Imran informed that they held a telephonic conversation in which Putin conveyed that there was no Islamophobia in Russia and a central mosque in Moscow was fully functional.
Future Sino-Pak roadmap
Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi speaking during the sitting said that the prime minister’s meeting with President Xi was successful.
“The clarity witnessed over such meetings had not happened in the past,” he said, adding that it was another encouraging sign.
The minister further said the leadership of the two countries conveyed clear messages over the core issues. They removed certain concerns over the CPEC projects, which were not based upon facts, he added.
“The spoilers against CPEC had been playing their negative parts,” he maintained.
On Afghanistan issue, Pakistan and China shared unanimous views, Qureshi said, adding there had been close coordination and collaboration between the two countries in this regard.
Furthermore, they had agreed over a future roadmap, he informed. “A meeting of Afghanistan’s immediate neighbours, besides a trilateral meeting of Pakistan, China and Afghanistan will be soon convened to expedite efforts to avert humanitarian crises in Afghanistan,” he said.
Minister for Finance Shaukat Tarin said that China had helped in building infrastructure and connectivity projects under the CPEC and now they will support the establishment of SEZs so that trickle-down effects could be fully reaped.
Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry comparing the number of CPEC projects under the incumbent governments with the previous one, said now the number of working groups had been increased to 11.
“They [the PTI government] had completed seven projects in the last three years besides completing 453kms roads projects and a further investment of $3.45 billion had also been made,” said Fawad.
He further said that three new projects had been added. “The power generation stood around 3340 MW in 2018 which had now increased to 5864 MW during the last three-and-a-half years,” he claimed.
“Not a single transmission line was added by the previous government but they [the PTI] had installed 880kms new transmission lines,” he added.
