SCO Qingdao Summit: China-Pakistan cooperation in trade and economy

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Welcome back. Pakistan is a new member of the SCO and an active participant under the Belt and Road Initiative. One landmark project of China-Pakistan cooperation is the bilateral economic corridor. Daniel Khan and Wu Lei have more on this. First to you, Daniel, tell us briefly about the project. Is it completed yet? How can it improve bilateral cooperation in trade, security, and other fields?

The work on this section began in 2017, and is scheduled to be completed by 2020 at a cost of 142 billion rupees.

Pakistan is undertaking work on 1,700 kilometers of six-lane international standard roads that would link Gwadar to Khunjerab and Peshawar to Karachi.

COL. DILAWAR GILANI FORMER GM, NATIONAL HIGHWAY AUTHORITY "This is a focused development of roads, from western China to Gwadar. So you have this fast access, road and rail for goods, emanating from China and going to Gwadar and beyond."

Work on the Khunjerab-Raikot 335 kilometer section has already been completed, while the 144-kilometer Raikot-Thakot section is in progress at a rapid pace. The completion of CPEC is expected to pave the way for agricultural and industrial development and open new avenues of economic uplift and generate new opportunities of employment.

COL. DILAWAR GILANI FORMER GM, NATIONAL HIGHWAY AUTHORITY "The biggest gain will be in energy sector, because we have not been efficient in energy, and because of Chinese help we will be able to overcome the energy deficit."

Observers say the China Pakistan Economic Corridor is a journey towards economic regionalization in a globalized world, and as the CPEC rolls out, there are three areas that both China and Pakistan need to focus on: economy, environment and security, in order to see the project succeed with its true potential.