Pakistan's economy will get a boost under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) which will enable the country to enhance industrial and agriculture production besides improving its connectivity to regional countries, Chairman of the country's CPEC Authority said. The first phase of CPEC has filled the voids of the infrastructure of Pakistan, with primary focus on energy and communication infrastructure, and the second phase will be more about passing the benefits of CPEC to the general public of the country by creating employment and investment opportunities through initiation of industrialization and broadening the scope of agriculture sector, the Chairman Asim Saleem Bajwa said in an interview with Chinese media on Friday. Briefing about Pakistan's plan to boost industrialization process under CPEC, he said the authority identified nine special economic zones in which they will invite investors from all over the world to set up or relocate their industry, enabling the country to increase its exports. He said his country was affected by COVID-19, but the pandemic did not had any impact on CPEC projects which kept on working at full swing and no project was halted. Talking about the improving connectivity with regional countries under CPEC, Bajwa said that freights from Afghanistan have already started coming to Gwadar port, and central Asian countries have also approached the Pakistani Commerce Ministry to let them move their freights via Gwadar. On the forthcoming railway project Main Line-1 (ML-1) under the framework of CPEC, he said the project will not only enhance connectivity within Pakistan, but will also connect it with other regional countries and with their railways. The ML-1 project is the rehabilitation and upgradation of the 1,872-km railway track between Karachi and Peshawar. He added that through (ML-1), connectivity with the regional countries and movement of freights to and from the regional countries will not only integrate the region but also bring more lasting peace and boost economic development economies in the regional countries. He also lauded China for its support to enable Pakistan to handle COVID-19 at the initial stage of the outbreak, recalling the time when the Pakistani president visited China during the peak of pandemic to show support to China, and the Chinese government, companies and people helped Pakistan by sending bulk of medical equipment to fight against the viral disease after the pandemic outbreak in the country.
