BEIJING, March 14 (AsiaFreePress): Pakistan Ambassador to China Moin Ul Haque said that cooperation with China under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) \u201chas transformed Pakistan\u2019s economic landscape\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In an interview, Haque spoke highly of the construction of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a flagship BRI project, saying it is \u201ctransformational\u201d for his entire country, reported Xinhua.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Besides the Gwadar Port, which he said has become the crown jewel of the CPEC, Haque also lauded the eco-friendly Orange Line metro train in Lahore, the first of its kind in Pakistan, which officially opened for public in October 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou see the metro-train, it is a world-class, high-quality public transport system. In Lahore, the second-largest city of Pakistan, people have this very efficient, very modern and affordable transport system,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to Haque, BRI projects have benefited the Pakistani people through job creation, improving livelihoods, eradicating poverty and upgrading remote areas.
Infrastructure development and energy upgrades have \u201chelped change the economic, social and industrial landscape of Pakistan,\u201d said Haque. So far, more than 70,000 jobs have been created thanks to BRI cooperation, stressed Haque, adding that according to his government\u2019s forecast, another half a million direct and indirect jobs will be created in the next five to seven years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He further elaborated that \u201call these philosophies and dimensions of BRI directly contribute to the 17 SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals).\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 17 SDGs were adopted by all United Nations member states in 2015, as part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which include no poverty, zero hunger, good health and well-being, and others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Being a witness of the signing of a series of BRI cooperation agreements between Pakistan and China, the ambassador also shared with Xinhua his personal experiences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He recalled the difficult nights when the temperature was as high as 40 degrees celsius, the light went out and the fan stopped working due to power shortage, and one could not sleep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thanks to BRI projects, frequent power outages in peak season are now a thing of the past, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The ambassador told Xinhua that his country was seeking more cooperation with China on industry modernization and information technology (IT) since Pakistan began working on its special technology zones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In September last year, Pakistan and China established a joint working group on information technology at the 10th Joint Cooperation Committee meeting of the CPEC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Since assuming ambassadorship in Beijing in 2020, Haque has visited Z-park on several occasions, also known as China\u2019s Silicon Valley, to see how Pakistan can learn from the Chinese side in IT technology, artificial intelligence, 5G, robotics and cloud computing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In February, Pakistan\u2019s Special Technology Zones Authority and China\u2019s Zhongguancun \u201cBelt and Road\u201d Industrial Promotion Association signed a letter of intent to promote high-quality science and technological exchanges between the two countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just a beginning,\u201d Haque said, expecting closer cooperation among research institutions and universities. \u201cWe want to see more cooperation in this area.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Noting the COVID-19 pandemic has caused an unprecedented global economic impact, the diplomat called for collective effort, international solidarity and cooperation to address which he said was the biggest challenge faced by humanity in a long time. \u201cThe BRI has played, is playing and is going to play a very important role for stabilizing the economies of the world and bringing countries together for tackling challenges like COVID-19,\u201d said Haque.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BEIJING, March 14 (AsiaFreePress): Pakistan Ambassador to China Moin Ul Haque said that cooperation with China under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) \u201chas transformed Pakistan\u2019s economic landscape\u201d. In an interview, Haque spoke highly of the construction of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a flagship BRI project, saying it is \u201ctransformational\u201d for […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":4037,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,81,396,82],"tags":[2405,964,1252,192,303,1692,345,65,2404],"class_list":["post-4036","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-china","category-latest","category-paksitan","tag-ambassador-moin-ul-haque","tag-beijing","tag-bri","tag-china","tag-cpec","tag-gwadar","tag-islamabad","tag-pakistan","tag-sdg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4036"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4036"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4036\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4037"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}