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China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) | Updates & Discussions

my expectations 10% increase annually!
The problem is with the growth rate that is around 3.5% since last 2 3 years!

Also we will need to work up on our foreign relations if we are to progress. You cannot survive alone in this world and the current government seem not bothered about this fact at all. This is one of the main problems i have with this administration. We need to aggressively work on this one aspect.
 
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The problem is with the growth rate that is around 3.5% since last 2 3 years!

Also we will need to work up on our foreign relations if we are to progress. You cannot survive alone in this world and the current government seem not bothered about this fact at all. This is one of the main problems i have with this administration. We need to aggressively work on this one aspect.

brother this year growth rate will be at around 5, which is good.
secondly the most important things, is inflation is around 2-4% ,which is very very good, and if we keep that inflation rate in control, we will see tremendous growth.
 
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The problem is with the growth rate that is around 3.5% since last 2 3 years!

Also we will need to work up on our foreign relations if we are to progress. You cannot survive alone in this world and the current government seem not bothered about this fact at all. This is one of the main problems i have with this administration. We need to aggressively work on this one aspec.
:rofl: :angel:. Its amazing how much gossip people in Pakistan believe in and ignore all facts!!

Here, I'd like to highlight the credit so its given to where its due.
- The CPEC is an example of Pakistan's foreign relations
- The Russians trying to work with Pakistan is also another example (both in defense, steel and mineral exploration, production, buying and selling).
- Qatar working on putting 100,000 Pakistanis to work is also an example of foreign relations at work.
- Pakistan buying cheap electricity and starting mutual trade with the Central Russian states is also a sign of foreign relations.
- The largest stock exchanges putting Pakistani market in focus and investing billions into Pakistan are due to foreign relations and improvement of previous relations where Pakistan was considered a failed state just three years ago!!

The following threads clearly show the foreign efforts that are paying up huge dividends to Pakistan as a nation. Who would've thought that Pakistan will be so hyped about in the international market for foreign investments? All of these didn't just happen due to a "miracle", someone from the current administration actually did a LOT of work to change Pakistan the way it was known just three years ago!!! Who would've thought the images presented in the following threads would actually take place in New York city. The current administration took a "failed state" and turned it into one of the "top growing economies" and the largest stock exchange understand and appreciate how much work has been done. Read the following if you haven't already.

https://defence.pk/threads/pakistan-day-celebrated-in-nasdaq.446078/

https://defence.pk/threads/world-ap...lay-pm-pak-at-new-york-stock-exchange.446617/
 
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:rofl: :angel:. Its amazing how much gossip people in Pakistan believe in and ignore all facts!!

Here, I'd like to highlight the credit so its given to where its due.
- The CPEC is an example of Pakistan's foreign relations
- The Russians trying to work with Pakistan is also another example (both in defense, steel and mineral exploration, production, buying and selling).
- Qatar working on putting 100,000 Pakistanis to work is also an example of foreign relations at work.
- Pakistan buying cheap electricity and starting mutual trade with the Central Russian states is also a sign of foreign relations.
- The largest stock exchanges putting Pakistani market in focus and investing billions into Pakistan are due to foreign relations and improvement of previous relations where Pakistan was considered a failed state just three years ago!!

The following threads clearly show the foreign efforts that are paying up huge dividends to Pakistan as a nation. Who would've thought that Pakistan will be so hyped about in the international market for foreign investments? All of these didn't just happen due to a "miracle", someone from the current administration actually did a LOT of work to change Pakistan the way it was known just three years ago!!! Who would've thought the images presented in the following threads would actually take place in New York city. The current administration took a "failed state" and turned it into one of the "top growing economies" and the largest stock exchange understand and appreciate how much work has been done. Read the following if you haven't already.

https://defence.pk/threads/pakistan-day-celebrated-in-nasdaq.446078/

https://defence.pk/threads/world-ap...lay-pm-pak-at-new-york-stock-exchange.446617/
Dear i would point you to COUNTLESS examples where the foreign relations are NOT at work but why thrown mud on myself? whatever they do, for good or for bad, this is MY GOVERNMENT. Nor will i try and explain to you the OTHER factors in these points you mentioned as gains of our foreign policy. :)

However if you in America are seeing so much positive about Pakistan, i will thank you for that. :P

Its amazing how much gossip people in Pakistan believe in and ignore all facts!!
It is equally amazing how someone claiming to be an American then says to have more "information" than any regular Pakistani. :)
brother this year growth rate will be at around 5, which is good.
secondly the most important things, is inflation is around 2-4% ,which is very very good, and if we keep that inflation rate in control, we will see tremendous growth.
Yar we were planing that for the last year and also for the year before that. In fact, we originally came out with a fig of around this term initially however once the cat was out of the bag it all changed to 3 or there about.

Anyway, i hope things change for good but unfortunately i cannot see much reason for them to do so right now. I may be overlooking some things or miscalculating a few however. I hope i am.
 
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Dear i would point you to COUNTLESS examples where the foreign relations are NOT at work but why thrown mud on myself? whatever they do, for good or for bad, this is MY GOVERNMENT. Nor will i try and explain to you the OTHER factors in these points you mentioned as gains of our foreign policy. :)

However if you in America are seeing so much positive about Pakistan, i will thank you for that. :P


It is equally amazing how someone claiming to be an American then says to have more "information" than any regular Pakistani. :)

Yar we were planing that for the last year and also for the year before that. In fact, we originally came out with a fig of around this term initially however once the cat was out of the bag it all changed to 3 or there about.

Anyway, i hope things change for good but unfortunately i cannot see much reason for them to do so right now. I may be overlooking some things or miscalculating a few however. I hope i am.

brother,

few Macro indicators are very good now,

like foreign exchange reserves are on highest levels, and increasing.
Inflation is under control
Tax collection increased 60% in last few years.
Development budgets increasing,
zero load shedding on industrial Areas.

so next few years will be great Ins sha Allah.
 
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brother,

few Macro indicators are very good now,

like foreign exchange reserves are on highest levels, and increasing.
Inflation is under control
Tax collection increased 60% in last few years.
Development budgets increasing,
zero load shedding on industrial Areas.

so next few years will be great Ins sha Allah.
I hope so, lets see what happens.

But i am not directly involved with Foreign Exchange reserves but as far as i can see, the loans are the main contributor there and not investments and export revenues. Again, i am not really involved in economics so do not know what the ground realities are regarding Inflation and tax collections etc. I hope these things are totally correct as this is the only way we can progress. I hope these are not as wrong as the statement of zero load shedding in industrial area as i am also in manufacturing and export business and we are currently having 5 hours of load shedding. Though the situation is much better than what it was in PPP gov. as far as load management is concerned. I wont talk about production setup but management sure is much much better no doubt about that. These is a step up compared to what PPP was doing.
 
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Pakistan raises SSD for security of foreigners working on Gwadar Port

pakistan-raises-ssd-for-security-of-foreigners-working-on-gwadar-port-9285804313945fdc78041b2f16bc5a32.jpg

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has successfully raised a Special Security Division (SSD) to ensure four-layer security of around 15,000 foreigners working on around 3,000-km-long trade route that will connect the Gwadar Port to China’s northwestern Xinjiang province.

“A Special Security Division consisting of nine composite infantry battalions and six civil armed forces wings has been raised at a cost of 21.57 billion,” the Ministry of Interior disclosed in an official document on Friday. The government has spent over Rs23 billion on raising this special force being commanded by Major General Abid Rafique.


China and Pakistan agreed to raise a special force to ensure foolproof security to the China Pakistan Economic Corridor’s (CPEC) sea routes and the Gwadar Port. This SSD consists of over 13,731 security personnel to safeguard around 9,000 Chinese workers engaged in over 330 small and mega projects in the country. In addition, Pakistan also deployed over 30,434 security personnel for successful execution of these multi-billion dollar costly projects under the CPEC


The government spent Rs15.8 billion on raising nine wings of SSD consisting of Pakistan Army’s components and a composite infantry battalion, revealed the official document of the Ministry of Interior submitted with the National Assembly on Friday. The government has also spent Rs5.8 billion by raising six SSD wings of civilian armed forces with the minimum strength of 4,502 security personnel in all the four provinces. The CPEC security details came in response to a written question posed by MNA Dr Shahida Rehmani of the Pakistan People’s Party.


The government has also allocated Rs1.3 billion under the Public Sector Development Programme for the purchase of security equipment, it revealed. The government raised three SSD wings of Punjab Rangers consisting of 2,190 and an SSD wing of Frontier Corps of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa consisting of 852 security personnel. Similarly, it raised a wing of FC Balochistan with strength of 730 personnel and Sindh Rangers consisting of 730 personnel


Over 6,300 security personnel are guarding around 3,800 Chinese workers engaged in 176 small and mega projects in Punjab, interior ministry further revealed in this official document compiled on the basis of information collected from home departments of provinces as well as from the Islamabad Capital Territory. Around 2,000 security personnel have been deployed for security of over 700 Chinese engineers working on 19 projects in various districts of KP. Around 3,200 security personnel are guarding 600 Chinese workers engaged in eight projects in Balochistan. Over 2,640 armed personnel have been deputed for security of over 1,140 Chinese workers working on 103 projects in the Sindh province. Over 439 police personnel are guarding around 900 Chinese engineers working on six mega projects in the ICT and over 1,270 security personnel deputed on security of 1,700 Chinese workers engaged in around 15 projects. The administration of Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) revealed that 667 security personnel are guarding 13 Chinese workers engaged in a project started years back.

Over 3,500 security personnel hired from private security companies have also been deputed for safeguarding foreigners working on various projects being executed in all the four provinces. In last fiscal year budget, the government also allocated an estimated Rs11 billion for three projects under the PSDP to raise some additional wings of the civil armed forces.
 
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Over 3,500 security personnel hired from private security companies have also been deputed for safeguarding foreigners working on various projects being executed in all the four provinces.

Hope that all those private hired ones are not appointed without detailed security check in depth that in past, we have enough of fruits by the hands of these so-called private security guards, assigned a rifle after firing 3 bullets on first and appointed.
 
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PAK-CHINA FIBER OPTIC PROJECT TO BE COMPLETED BY JUNE 2018

ISLAMABAD: The 820-kilometer long Pak-China optic fiber cable project from Rawalpindi to Khunjrab would be completed at a cost of US$ 44 million by June 2018.

After completion of this important project of Information Technology (IT) under China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) would convert trade corridor into digital corridor.

This project was being completed in collaboration between China's Huawei and Special Communication Organization (SCO), Senior Project Manager, SCO, Muhammad Adil said.

He informed that this project would be beneficial for strategic link between both Pakistan and China.

This project would not only generate revenue but it would also a safest route of voice traffic between the two countries, he added.

Muhammad Adil said, the Pak-China fiber optic fiber cable would provide an alternate source for the world trade.

He hoped that awareness about trade, tourism and Information Technology (IT) would create economic opportunities in Gilgit- Baltistan (GB).

The foundation stone of the Pak-China optic fiber cable project was laid in May this year.

Around 18.2 kilometers portion of the optic fiber cable would pass through federal capital, 466 kilometers from Gilgit-Baltistan (GB), 280 kilometers from Khyber Pakhtunkhaw (KPK), and 47 kilometers from Punjab.

The optical fiber cable would reach Rawalpindi from Khunjrab via Karimabad, Gilgit, Chilas, Babusar Top, Naran, Mansehra and Jery Kas.

A project to expand the fiber cable up to Gawadar was in final phase of approval which would provide an international linkage along the entire route of CPEC.
 
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CPEC PROJECTS WORTH $17BN IN ADVANCE STAGE OF APPROVAL

ISLAMABAD: Several projects worth US$ 17 billion under China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) are in pipeline and advance stage of approval.

Out of US$ 46 billion to be invested under CPEC initiative in Pakistan, road network, infrastructure and energy projects worth US$ 18 billion are already under full and active implementation phase.

According to official sources in the ministry of planning, development and reform here, the projects are being completed under CPEC at Bin Qasim, Sahiwal, Karakuram Highways, Western Route, Sukkur-Karachi motorway.

He said the CPEC is not only a network of roads, energy projects and infrastructure but it is a framework.

He informed that within two year, energy would be available for every sector after completion of first phase of the initiative.

The early harvest projects under CPEC initiative are moving forward swiftly and first batch including energy and infrastructure projects would be completed by fiscal year 2017-18.

Work on Western route is progressing satisfactorily while Gwadar Airport and Eastbay Expressway in Gwadar are in advanced stages of approval by Chinese side and will have the ground breaking within a couple of months.

The work on technical and vocational training institutes of Gwadar is being carried out to make them operational as early as possible.

With the completion of the early harvest energy projects, 10,000 MW would be added in national grid by 2018.
 
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CPEC set to attract $150b investment in Pakistan

China pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is planned to shoot up for a $ 150 billion investment, And a new whole world of business that will make it the largest economic region, as details of its size and stature are unveiled this week.

The plan is to connect three engines of growth - South Asia, China and Central Asian Republics and aligning it with the entire South, Northern and North-Western regions.

"CPEC will blaze a whole new trail," Chinese President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Nawaz Shairf say.

The latest "Summit of top government leaders and Investors" which has just concluded in Islamabad, projects the overall international investment in CPEC, covering 2014 to 2030, will shoot up to $150 billion, terming the $46 billion initial plans for it as just the starters - just the beginning of its phase one. Prime minister Nawaz Shairf, while inaugurating the summit said CPEC is going to change fate of the entire region. He said it will eliminate poverty and unemployment and bring the people up-front into the mainstream of modern and developed countries.

"The CPEC project is the fusion of President Xi's 'one Belt One-Road' with Pakistan's 'Vision 2025', which is sought to harness Pakistan's geo-political position into geo-economic advantage by connecting the three engines of growth - South Asia, China and Central Asia," Sharif said.

Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, speaking about the CPEC, its economic fruits, and investment and business potential of Pakistan, at the summit, said Pakistan will soon become the choice destination for foreign investment.

Miftah Ismail, chairman of Board of Investment (BoI) said on completion of this mega project, Pakistan will be expecting approximately $150 billion international investment in the country into different business and manufacturing centers and investment by Chinese firms.

"The estimate for the projected investment of $150 billion have been worked out on the basis of firm commitments with prospective investors," he said.

Ahsan Iqbal, Minister for Planning and Development, who is also Minister-in-Charge of CPEC, said the connectivity through this mega project will enhance trade opportunities for Pakistan with 70 per cent of the international maritime trade via Pakistan's two big ports of Karachi and the new Chinese-built port of Gwadar. "Gwadar will fast track exports and import to and from UAE, GCC, Saudi Arabia and adjacent regions," he said.

"About $18 billion worth of projects are in the implementation phase while the remaining portfolios of $17 billion projects are at the preparation stage," Ahsan Iqbal said.

An amount of $11 billion will be spent on infrastructure - mainly construction of roads and development of Gwadar port.

Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan Sun Weidong, speaking at the summit said: "We look forward to speedy completion of the projects, included in the CPEC plan. We hope, with its full implementation, it will help create more jobs, provide better health and educational facilities."

Yan Zhiyong, chairman, Power Construction Corporation of China, spoke on the role of China in promoting 'One-belt one-road CPEC initiative'. The summit attracted more than 150 leading Chinese businessmen and investors, representing industries ranging from energy to autos.

Nasir Saeed, vice-president of the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said CPEC has drawn the attention of foreign investors towards Pakistan.

Ali Mohammad, chairman of Gul Ahmed Textile Mills, asked Chinese companies to shift plants to Pakistan to overcome their high labour cost.

"Pakistan will help with its has a hug bulge of youth population. China is still exporting 36 per cent of world's textiles," he said.
 
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http://spearheadresearch.org/index....an-and-the-reformation-of-international-trade

China, Pakistan, and the Reformation of International Trade
Economy, Politics


Today, the CPEC seems like just a multi-billion dollar agreement between two countries… but half a century from now, the Asian citizenry – and the rest of the world – will consider it something akin to what Bretton Woods was for post-war Europe; albeit more inclusive, more equitable, and with a much grander long-term economic impact, since it is the fulcrum of China’s massive “One Belt, One Road” (OBOR) and “Maritime Silk Road” (MSR) initiatives.

The CPEC Summit and Expo was hosted by the Government of Pakistan’s Planning Commission – the state’s nerve center for infrastructure management and development planning – last week, on August 29 and 30, 2016. Inaugurated by the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, participants to the Summit and Expo conference were Pakistanis and Chinese: in addition to what this scribe would consider token attendance from the federal capital’s diplomatic corps and some foreign journalists.

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In his inaugural speech, the Prime Minister said that CPEC will be a “game changer” for Pakistan, but a “fate changer” for the entire region. Many English newspapers in Pakistan, though giving the event prime-time coverage, conveniently ignored the depth of this policy vision statement, and chose to focus on the semantics alone. That mistake must be corrected.

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Why is CPEC a “game changer” for Pakistan and what “game” is it actually changing? Mired in extremist divisions and the existential threat of terrorist attack from which virtually nobody is safe, the CPEC initiative provided a much-needed morale boost as well as an enormous injection of high-yield low-interest capital financing primarily for infrastructure projects. Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit – and the dastardly attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar where 132 bright young Pakistani lives were abruptly, prematurely and horribly ended – gave Pakistan the opportunity, the strength and the courage to make some important decisions regarding the future course that the nation must chart for itself. The country’s entire anti-terror apparatus was transformed under the National Action Plan, and the quantum and frequency of terror attacks diminished (by approximately 70% according to some quantitative analytics) because the capability was developed – and the will was wholly summoned – to preemptively deter terror attacks on the basis of actionable intelligence that was gathered and used to eliminate militants and terrorist proxies before they could carry out the attacks that they were planning to carry out. But that was a decision Pakistan made on its own; and the implementation of this National Action Plan is still being improved, modified, and (for the first time in Pakistan’s history) being discussed and deliberated upon in the houses of Parliament as well as in public discourse on mainstream media almost every day. It has become a firm decision – backed by national will – to engage in this war that has been imposed on us, and to achieve victory by foiling the enemy’s dastardly designs and taking Pakistan’s war against terrorism to their logical conclusion; i.e. enabling the terrorists to meet their maker.

President Xi’s April 2015 visit, and the implementation commencement of CPEC’s ‘Early Harvest‘ projects – energy infrastructure that is designed and destined for completion between 2018 and 2020 to add more than 10,000 MW to Pakistan’s energy grid – was the biggest milestone in Pakistan’s modern economic history. No other global strategic partner had ever put so much faith – or so much money, almost US$46 billion – in improving Pakistan’s existing infrastructure and building it from scratch in places where it never existed. Hence, Pakistan had been given a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to truly consolidate the fundamentals of its national economy, and then build it into a integrated framework that could easily fit into the 21st century international trade matrix. This is why Pakistan’s bilateral relationship with China has transformed from a merely geostrategic one into a ‘geo-economic’ partnership. The CPEC is also a part of China’s 13th 5-year development plan because, according to Chinese ambassador to Pakistan, Sun Weidong;

“The CPEC is a vision. It is an important consensus reached between our leaders and the governments, and enjoys the full support of our two peoples. It will strengthen the time-tested China-Pakistan friendship, bring our two brotherly countries more closer, and lay a solid foundation for building a China-Pakistan community of shared destiny.



Second, the CPEC is a platform. It is a comprehensive cooperation framework and identified the four major areas of energy, transport infrastructure, industrial parks and Gwadar Port. We also expect the fields of CPEC to be expanded to finance, science and technology, education, poverty alleviation and social development in the near future.



Third, the CPEC is an opportunity. It is based on the spirit of openness and win-win cooperation. It faces whole Pakistan and brings benefits to the people of China and Pakistan. It is also a fusion of multiple developments, aiming to peace, prosperity and well-being of the peoples of the region and the world at large.”



The outlines of this new geo-economic framework could be seen at the CPEC Summit and Expo: Chinese businessmen as well as executives from its industrial giants and SOEs (state-owned enterprises) were present along with their counterparts from Pakistan: industrialists, business magnates, economists, intellectuals, policymakers and senior bureaucrats. In various sessions of the Summit and Expo, the underlying impression from both the Chinese side and the Pakistani side was similar: the game hasalready started changing.

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So why and how is CPEC a “fate changer” for the region? Does the Prime Minister not know ofIndia’s vocal opposition to the CPEC, since parts of the transport infrastructure run through territories that India considers disputed? Are Pakistan’s policymakers unaware that India and the UAE have inked a $75 billion agreement for long-term investment in the National Infrastructure and Investment Fund, (or NIIF) – albeit with much less fanfare than that being given to CPEC? The answer lies not in the supposed ignorance of the existing CPEC partners, but from the narrow-mindedness of those who stand opposed to it today. And the important qualifier made in the previous statement is: today.

At the CPEC Summit and Expo, there were few (if any) representatives from Central Asia, and no participants from Afghanistan or India, or even Iran or from African nations. Why? Because they don’t consider themselves as stakeholders of the CPEC initiative; they still subscribe to the view that the China Pakistan Economic Corridor is merely a trading highway for the economies of only China and Pakistan.

While most of the world approves of (and in fact, actively supports) the “One Belt, One Road” (OBOR) initiative as well as the “Maritime Silk Road” (MSR) projects of the Xi-Li Administration as an innovative maneuver to revive the global economy through energizing trade along the oldest routes known to mankind throughout history, the world is yet to understand that CPEC is the linchpin – a secondary backbone, so to say – of this enormous initiative to link up all of the world’s continents and their capacities and capabilities to trade with everyone else, and not just with those with whom their physical transportation or infrastructural linkages already exist by geographical chance or by ‘fate’ created by policies followed for hundreds of years. The OBOR and MSR would generate a unitary route that would connect Europe to China through Russia and Central Asia, while also linking up various Middle Eastern countries; on the maritime side, China’s so-called “string of pearls” will become a oversea route linking the east African coast all the way to the Asia Pacific and the Far East (according to the drawing board, even including New Zealand and Australia).

The following map (in Chinese) illustrates the placement of the CPEC main artery (in green), and its positioning between the OBOR’s New Silk Road initiatives, and the MSR (in light blue):

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So as China affirms and consolidates its position as the fulcrum of international trade in our epoch, what lies at the very center of the OBOR and the MSR in terms of a geostrategic territorial perspective? Pakistan, the trading gateway of the 21st century.

As far as security is concerned, both China and Pakistan have clearly told the world – particularly those South Asian forces which plan to sabotage the CPEC’s Western Alignment by fomenting separatism in Pakistan’s Balochistan province – that they will take “joint action” to thwart any and every attempt to “disrupt the process of CPEC”: this has at least been confirmed by Hu Shisheng, Director of the Institute of South and Southeast Asian and Oceanian Studies at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations.

Noted economist and former Dean of the LUMS School of Humanities, Social Sciences and Law (now the MAGSHSS), Dr. Ijaz Nabi once explained to an audience during a seminar in Islamabad (presumably the 2012 Islamabad Dialogue hosted at the Marriott) that historically, the land territory that is now Pakistan has always served as a gateway for trading caravans from different parts of the world. Though cultural contexts and historical anecdotes were invaluable in solidifying the argument, Dr. Nabi exhibited quantitative time-series data which showed how civilizations in the region evolved – and what routes they used to trade with each other. Therefore, Pakistan’s main economic strength does not even lie in manufacturing, or services, or in remittances, or even in its agronomy: it is vested in the strategic positioning of the land territory that – quite literally – connects the East with the West.

In an interview with reputed journalist Wajahat S. Khan for his show “Mahaaz”, aired on May 29, 2016, Senator Mushahid Hussain – while leading a ‘rainbow’ delegation of Pakistani parliamentarians from all parties and all regions of country, to the China People’s Institute for Foreign Affairs in Beijing – explained that the problems being heard about CPEC, even in Pakistan, is not that people don’t want it to go forward: people want to be included in the CPEC and taken on board with its projects and initiatives. “They don’t want it to not move forward”, he said, “they want to move forward with it“. There is perhaps no other more succinct or holistic explanation of the all-inclusive nature and design of CPEC.

Let’s look at this inclusive approach through another angle: one of the CPEC’s main components is the Gwadar deep sea port complex, envisaged as Pakistan’s second oceanic trading polestar after Karachi. According to most analyses, Gwadar – and its management and development by China – is considered the penultimate ligament in the so-called “string of pearls” linking China’s seaway trade routes to the Middle East and East Africa. According to this “all aboard” approach, Gwadar will be another link between Karachi and Mumbai (and a host of Indian seaports on their western seaboard) and Mali and Colombo and Trincomalee and Hambantota etc. on its eastern perspective, and Chahbahar and Hormuz and Aden and Mogadishu and Mombasa and Port Sudan (as well as the Chinese-financed Bagamoyo port in Tanzania due for completion in 2017) et cetera on the western perspective of the Gwadar port. Therefore, the “crown jewel of CPEC” – as duly recognized by PM Sharif in his opening remarks to the CPEC Summit and Expo – is a complement to the existing oceanic trading matrix (including the oil shipping lanes) in South Asia, not a challenge or new competitor to the same. Therefore, Gwadar is also “envisaged” as the link between China’s OBOR and MSR initiatives: some decades from today, it will be the city where peoples, trades and cultures from around the world will converge.

The inclusive approach argument can also be extended to the Eastern and Western Alignment land transport routes in Pakistan – the highways and railways running on the north-south axis – that are being upgraded, developed, and in some cases created anew by CPEC-related projects. Looking closely at the drawing board, projects with a launch timeframe for 2020-2025 are not the end of the CPEC: there are future plans – developed by Pakistan and promoted by China – to create highways as well as railroad linkages on the east-west axes at at least three different junctures. Though these would be connecting Pakistani cities in South Punjab to KP and north Balochistan, as well as Sindh to Central and southern Balochistan, they could also – and in the opinion of this scribe, they definitely should – be used to facilitate trade between Afghanistan and India. Without compromising on ideology or on strategic national interests, Pakistan would not only be facilitating new dimensions of trade in South and Central Asia, but would also be in a better position to “dictate” or “have their say” in the ‘Af-Pak-Ind’ region. How? Just think of the NATO supply routes and how they got blocked.

By adopting and implementing an inclusive approach towards facilitating trade between regions and promoting economic alliances instead of opposing or deterring them, Pakistan itself would – perhaps for the first time – actually be in a position to enjoy some leverage over its ‘adversarial’ neighbors in a multitude of ways.

So the game is already changing in Pakistan’s favor: more and more Chinese companies are expressing interest to become part of the CPEC initiative, to develop long-lasting partnerships and synergies with Pakistani commercial entities, and to discover new opportunities that arise when one starts exploring and developing areas which were hitherto pristine and unattended. Since the Sino-Pak relationship has been higher than the Himalayas and deeper than the ocean and sweeter than honey and stronger than iron – and other metaphors to this effect – for half a century, the CPEC is a practical culmination of this brotherhood and friendship: turning a geostrategic and international political partnership into a ‘geo-economic’ synergy where not only the governments, but the private sectors (as well as the peoples of both countries, in the near future) will also be intertwined in overlapping global economic relations and linkages.

But the world needs to know that CPEC is not an exclusive economic initiative. China has already asked India to evaluate ways and means through which it can partake in CPEC, and Pakistan also wishes that India stops feeling threatened by it: becausedeeper economic relations reduce the chances of geopolitical conflict even when nations are at odds with each other over ideology, or policy, or even territory. China itself is a perfect example of how it has minimized the risk of military conflict with aspiring as well as real adversaries (such as the U.S., Japan, Russia, and even India) by building trade relationships that have continued to grow – and transcend the realm of intangible ideology to realize the actual, physical gains from trade which create jobs, develop innovative products, create new marketplaces, and keep on reinvigorating the national economies of all countries. The following map – courtesy of the Council on Foreign Relations and Xinhua (with credits to James McBride and Julia Ro) – explains how China’s new development initiatives are transforming a figurative “global village” into a globally interconnected trade-driven mega-economy in the most literal and practical sense:

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Pakistan has chosen to move forward on a path that will change its fate and – as the Minister for Planning, Development and Reform, Mr. Ahsan Iqbal Chaudhry, has stated – transform itself into a high productivity and highly innovative economy that will prioritize quality and provision of essential services of all kinds to its citizenry. This will not only consolidate Pakistan’s existing economic infrastructure, but will revitalize it by creating new engines of growth and new sources as well as destinations of multilateral investment. Pakistan will not only become the trading hub between East and West – where Chinese goods find quick and easy access to the markets of Africa, while oil and gas and natural resources from the Middle East as well as Central Asia can be safely and speedily transported to energy-starved economies as far away as Europe or Southeast Asia – but with its beautiful landscape, variety of seasons, multiplicity of terrain and immense diversity of cultures, Pakistan will also become a coveted tourist spot for globetrotters and vacationers.

In fact, the most attractive component of tourism in Pakistan is almost all of today’s generation have heard of it, but very few have actually seen it: those who have seen it, have done so from behind the iron wall of security that the defenders of Pakistan have established to protect its citizens and residents from the militant followers of a twisted, mangled and distorted self-representation of Islam and Muslims (which must not at all be confused with legitimate orthodox interpretations of Islamic values that have existed for over fourteen centuries). While the geostrategic and now ‘geo-economic’ relationship between the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and the People’s Republic of China continues to grow and diversify, it is also absolutely essential to promote, foster and consolidate the people-to-people relations between these two time-tested friend and all-weather allies: for a friendship of the people brings the nations closer more so than any common enemy or any mutual tangible interest. The publics of Pakistan and China have always held each other in high esteem, considering themselves as brethren: through CPEC, they should be given the opportunity to experience the similarities and the differences in language, culture, lifestyle, and other facets by their own selves. One should not waver in the pursuit of knowledge, even if one has to go to China: so said the Sage of all ages, Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) – and when a Chinese citizen visits Pakistan, it will truly feel as if he or she is visiting their brother’s home; as President Xi Jinping said in April 2015 on his way to Islamabad.

The question now is: will the region follow in Pakistan’s footsteps to change their fate, and promote the new, more equitable model of international economic cooperation and development in the 21st century?Or will they continue to subscribe to the medieval notion that trade with one who is perceived as an ‘enemy’ is treason itself, and that a strategic adversary cannot be challenged (and successfully competed against) in the framework of the modern capitalist economy?

For those who subscribe to the latter view, this scribe would be remiss not to recommend to them a review of the trade balances of China with the U.S., with Japan, and with India – a mere glance at three bilateral economic relationships in terms of their quantitative indicators and statistics in just the last fifteen years alone. It would either serve as a component of an argument in one direction or the other, or – most likely – it would serve as an eye-opener and a welcome change of heart to involve themselves in a novel, inclusive, and dare one day ‘post-modern’ multinational economic initiative. Therefore, the hope still exists for the next CPEC Summit and Expo to play host to businessmen, intellectuals, policymakers, economists, visionaries and friends from Africa and the Middle East to Central Asia and the Far East, from the developed economies of Europe and ANZAC to the struggling nations in South Asia: practically, the second CPEC Summit and Expo will be an open invitation to all developing nations around the world to come together and transform the D-8, Emerging Markets and Middle Power national economies into an integrated reality that will actualize national, regional, and eventually, global dreams. So should the countries linked by the OBOR and MSR miss out on the next CPEC Summit and Expo just because of their static policies and narrow strategic visions? Or should they start preparing for it right now, and play their due role in transforming – nay, reforming – international trade policies and practices in the 21st century?

As the saying goes: better late than never!

Shemrez Nauman Afzal is a graduate of the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) and the University of Science & Technology, Beijing (USTB). He specializes in economic affairs, particularly international trade, political economy, public policy, economic security and institutional development. He tweets at @shemreznauman
 
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Sindh trains, posts 168 ex-servicemen to guard CPEC projects

KARACHI: Around 168 ex-army personnel out of the planned 2,000 for the ‘special protection unit’ of the Sindh police have been trained and posted at various locations while nearly 500 more have been selected by the authorities concerned, it was learnt on Saturday.

Officials in the Sindh home ministry said they had recruited the first batch of the planned 2,000 ex-army personnel for the special protection unit (SPU) who had been trained and posted somewhere.

“Some 168 ex-army personnel have been trained and are on duty,” said a senior official in the home ministry but he did not provide details.

He said around 487 more had been selected and their medical examination was under way. “Soon, they will be sent for training,” he added.

The SPU was set up by the Apex Committee of Sindh on the directives of the federal interior ministry to provide ‘seamless security’ to the Chinese who are coming to Sindh for projects related to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said some 2,000 ex-army personnel would be there to strengthen the capacity of the Sindh police and assist in safeguarding the CPEC-related projects.

However, leaders of the Pakistan Peoples Party, including Qamar Zaman Kaira, criticised the interior minister for violating the Constitution by interfering in the law and order issue in Sindh, which is a provincial subject.

Officials said this was not the first time that Sindh police were hiring ex-servicemen as some 1,200 retired soldiers had been recruited two years ago to cope with the security challenges and targeted operations in Karachi.

“Any criticism against the recruitment of retired soldiers for the SPU is uncalled-for as the Sindh police did it previously as well,” said an official in Islamabad.

The 1,200 retired soldiers of the armed forces were recruited in line with the decision of the provincial cabinet mainly for security duties in Karachi.

Officials in the Sindh police then had said that the induction of ex-servicemen in its ranks had helped the police as the growing security challenges required a much larger force than the existing one.

They said that the benefit of hiring retired military men was that they were already prepared to join the force with immediate effect and “just need to learn the basics before being inducted”.

The Sindh government said it was ready to take all measures needed to establish an effective SPU for the Chinese investors and their projects.

“The remaining vacancies [in the SPU] will be advertised soon,” said an official in the home ministry.

Chairing a meeting mulling over the security plans for CPEC projects in Sindh, Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah said CPEC would open new vistas of prosperity and development in Sindh like elsewhere in the country.

Officials said the Sindh government had already issued standard operation procedures (SOPs) for the security of the Chinese in the province.

They added that the federal government had also raised a special security division (SSD) consisting of nine infantry combat battalions of Pakistan Army with a force of 9,000 personnel and six wings of civil armed force of 4,502 personnel for the security of CPEC projects and Chinese expatriates.

The provincial government is yet to give its input in the terms of reference for the SSD, under which there would be a dedicated headquarters for each CPEC project.

Officials claim that CM Shah had already directed the Sindh police chief to ensure proper security of CPEC projects and expedite the appointment of 2,000 special force personnel for the security of the Chinese.
 
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