KARACHI: President Mam­noon Hussain has said that the China-Pakistan Economic Corri­dor is a historic project, which will not only bring different regions closer together but also create great opportunities for trade and industry. “But with this, it is also necessary to prepare ourselves for the coming changes in the field of energy, transport, communication and latest technology to get full advantage of the opportunities,” he said.

The president expressed these views while speaking at a dinner function arranged in the honour of scholars and researchers from different countries attending the 2nd International CPEC Business & Research Conference 2017, at Governor House here on Wednesday.

Highlighting the importance of trained manpower which would be required to benefit from the facilities, the president said educational institutions and think tanks could play an important role in preparing future strategy in that regard.

The president pointed out that with the implementation of CPEC foreigners would start visiting our country on a large scale, which would bring swift and far-reaching changes in the social and cultural fields.

The president said he would like that our universities and thinkers should start pondering on this aspect so that the people could mentally prepare themselves to meet these challenges.

Earlier, Chinese Consul General in Karachi Wang Yu narrated a brief background of CPEC, whose solid foundation was laid when the Chinese president paid a visit to Pakistan in 2015. He said with CPEC a new era of development had begun.

He said already 17 projects were under implementation where more than 13,000 local people were employed. He said CPEC would bring economic and social benefits for the people of both countries.

IBA Director and Dean Dr Farrukh Iqbal, welcoming the guests, termed CPEC a very important initiative of Pakistan and said the conference had received 60 research papers from scholars and researchers from different countries.

Panel discussion

“China Pakistan Economic Corridor has brought back confidence in investors and it is by all means a game changer for the region,” said Chief Minister of Sindh Syed Murad Ali Shah at a panel discussion earlier on Wednesday.

Speaking at the event hosted by the Express Media Group in a hotel, CM Shah delved into the details of the “most anticipated project”. He was accompanied by a panel of speakers, including Sindh Governor Mohammad Zubair, Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan’s central leader Farooq Sattar, president of the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) Shamim Firpo, Chinese CG Wang Yu and CEO of the Sindh Engro Coal Mining Company Shamsuddin Sheikh.

Titled ‘CPEC: priorities and challenges’, the discussion elicited all kinds of responses from the panellists. Almost all of them focused on the “benefits that Pakistan will soon reap if the mega project [is] completed within the stipulated time”.

The CM reminded the attendees that the first project to become operational under CPEC was the wind power project in Sindh. He also spoke about former Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s words regarding Pak-China friendship calling China an ‘all-weather’ and ‘time-tested friend’.

‘Game challengers’

Farooq Sattar said: “CPEC is no doubt a game-changer for the country, but we need to look out for the game challengers as well”. He added: “Energy shortage, water scarcity and differences in Balochistan are some of the challenges that the stakeholders need to address for the successful completion of the project and to make the project sustainable.”

Referring to the census which began on Wednesday, he said: “Lack of census and lack of consensus are two of our immediate issues. We [have begun] a census. Now, let’s focus on consensus among the people.”

In order to address the differences along the western route, Dr Sattar suggested “developing human resource by building vocational training institutes, universities and colleges along the way to make it a people-backed project.”

The Chinese consul general said: “CPEC has uplifted Pakistan’s image internationally.” He said the people would be able to see an “early harvest of CPEC by 2018 as new energy and infrastructure projects are being launched”.

The KCCI president and the SECMC CEO also spoke.

Published in Dawn, March 16th, 2017