ISLAMABAD, Dec 31 (INP): China and Pakistan have jointly formulated long-term cooperation mechanism till 2030 to carry forward their socio-economic partnership under the Economic Corridor network.

To this effect, the two sides have already signed a formal document, after obtaining consent of both federal government and the provincial governments of Pakistan.

According the Chinese Embassy’s sources here, the plan provided the macro guidance for implementation of CPEC in the next phase, and could be adjusted based on the real situation as well as the consensus between the two parties during its implementation in the future.

The Long-term Plan has made planning and design for CPEC's next step in the areas of connectivity, energy, trade and industrial parks, agricultural, poverty alleviation, tourism, people's livelihood and finance.

The plan is effective till 2030, the short-term projects included will be considered up to 2020; medium-term projects up to 2025; and long-term projects up to 2030.

Over the past 5 years, under CPEC, 11 projects have been completed. 11 projects are under construction. The total investment of the above 22 projects is around 18.9 billion USD. There are 20 more projects in the pipeline.

Being the largest and most comprehensive project under BRI initiative, CPEC is of great political, economic and social significance to China and Pakistan.

Politically, it is a demonstration of the political willingness of the two countries to promote Sino-Pakistan strategic partnership of cooperation; economically, it is a project that will bring joint development to the two countries; and socially, it is aimed at mobilizing the people to work together for the betterment of our two nations.

In the 2nd phase, the federal government of Pakistan and each province have attached paramount importance to industrial development and the construction of SEZs.

The work has been in progress with the joint efforts of both sides. In early 2018, Pakistani Government had instructed BOI to formulate more accurately-targeted and more favorable policies on top of current preferential policies for two to three SEZs that were to be listed as key projects under CPEC.

The two sides are negotiating details on the implementation of the Rashakai SEZ, which will be inaugurated as early as the first quarter of 2019. During the 8th JCC meeting in Beijing, the NDRC and BOI signed the MOU on industry cooperation, which will facilitate the cooperation in this regard.

INP/J/AJ