By Asghar Ali Mubarak
Islamabad: ‘Pakistan needs to work on greater integration of locals, private sectors as well as the overseas Pakistanis into the CPEC projects’, said Ambassador Syed Hassan Javed, Director Chinese Study Centre, NUST. While speaking at the webinar on the ‘Regional Integration and CPEC: The Case of Gwadar Port’ organized by the Institute of Regional Studies, Amb. Javed stressed that the need to adopt an innovative approach for the second phase of CPEC to untap huge multi-sectoral potentials between the two countries. On Afghanistan’s inclusion into the CPEC, Ambassador Javed said ‘it would be a welcoming development since China will serve as the stabilizing factor in Afghanistan.
Ambassador Javed shrugged off the impression that Chabahar and Gwadar, Dubai, and Dammam were the strategic rivals. He was of the view that those ports were complimentary to CPEC, which he called the ‘sister ports of CPEC’. While comparing the Chinese investments in Pakistan with the west, Amb. Javed said that ‘Chinese FDI stood very high in comparison to western and eastern countries’ investments altogether’. In another comparison of port capacity, Amb. Javed said that Gwadar Port alone can handle load up to 400 million tons cargo annually once it was completely operationalized, adding that ‘it was almost near to India’s total capacity of all ports’.
While speaking on the occasion, Dr. Mir Sadaat Baloch, Asst. Professor at the University of Baluchistan, called for the inclusion of Azad Kashmir, and Gilgit Baltistan into the CEPC projects, adding that manufacturing, information, and communication technology also need to be incorporated in the second phase. In terms of establishing the Economic Zones, Dr. Baloch said we were lagging as we were only able to operationalize the one zone so far, He regretted losing energy-related projects in the CPEC which he thought were the ‘backbone of CPEC’. He was of the view that the shortcomings of the first phase had actually led us to the IMF, adding that in the second phase the focus should be towards local participations wherein he suggested giving contracts to the local contractors. He also said that we need to invest in enhancing labor skills which he argued were crucial for the success of CPEC projects and equally important for social integration and public support.
