ISLAMABAD, Dec 28 (INP): Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan Nong Rong has said that Pakistani media has played an impressive role to understand the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CEPC) in a better way.

He said that as an important pilot project of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and a demonstration project of China-Pakistan Cooperation, the CPEC plays a significant role to promote the in-depth development of the all-weather strategic cooperative partnership and high-quality growth of the Belt and Road Initiative.

He was speaking at the 6th China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) Media forum that was held here on Monday. The forum was jointly organized by the Pakistan-China Institute (PCI) and China Economic Net (CEN) in cooperation with the Embassy of the People's Republic of China in Pakistan.

Due to COVID-19, this year’s forum was held virtually and was themed “Post-epidemic China-Pakistan Media Cooperation”. The Forum conducted in-depth exchanges and discussions on topics including the opportunities for digital media, media as an engine for the high-quality development of CPEC, and China-Pakistan media cooperation. It was moderated by Zoon Ahmed Khan, anchor of China Economic Net. Chairman Senate, Sadiq Sanjrani was the Chief Guest. The forum was addressed by Railways Minister, Deputy Chairman Planning Commission.

Zheng Qingdong, President and Editor-in-Chief of Economic Daily, and Mustafa Hyder Sayed, Executive Director, Pakistan-China Institute gave the welcome addresses.

The Chinese ambassador said that high level and quality participation in the CPEC media forum is the testimony to the fact that CPEC has been highly valued in Pakistan. Since its inception in 2015, CPEC Media Forum has brought together the governments, business communities, media, think tanks, and other sectors of China and Pakistan to focus on the construction of the CPEC.

While commenting on a recently held meeting of the Joint Working Group on international coordination on CPEC, he said that China would strengthen coordination with academia and think-tanks through CPEC.

Since its launch, Pakistan has achieved fruitful results of CPEC cooperation. After the successful completion of CPEC Phase 1, which focussed on energy and infrastructure, the second phase would focus on industrial cooperation, agriculture, science, technology, and improving the livelihoods of people. Moreover, he highlighted the prospects of CPFTA-II and said that it would solve the issue of the trade imbalance between Pakistan and China.