China on Wednesday expressed its appreciation for Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s efforts to forward the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) with new “Pakistan speed” and recognized his tireless efforts to achieve so.
“We greatly value the words made by the prime minister. He (Shehbaz Sharif) has contributed significantly to the two nations’ practical cooperation, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying said.
Shehbaz Sharif recently met with Nong Rong, the Chinese ambassador to Pakistan, and emphasized his commitment to CPEC’s full economic and connectivity potential by ensuring that projects be developed quickly and at a high standard.
The spokesperson remarked that Prime Minister Sharif valued Pakistan’s relations with China, adding, ” Shehbaz Sharif has many times reaffirmed that Pakistan will push ahead the building of CPEC with new Pakistan speed.”
She said that Prime Minister Sharif had done a lot for our practical collaboration after he assumed office, including making two visits to the Gwadar port and hosting a conference for Pakistani and Chinese enterprises.
“So with the guidance of the leaders of both countries and with our concerted efforts, we are seeing a lot of progress being made on CPEC,” he added.
Hua Chunying said, ” We are ready to further implement well the understandings between the leaders of our two countries and building on what we have achieved and current projects.”
She continued by saying that in order to transform CPEC into a model project for excellent Belt and Road cooperation, the two nations will continue to focus on industrial growth, people’s livelihoods, agriculture, science, technology, and information technology, among other things.
“This will go a long way for China-Pakistan relations and the China-Pakistan community with a shared future and also the well-being of the two countries and the people around the region,” she added.
The prime minister expressed his desire to move toward finalizing these projects at the upcoming 11th meeting of the CPEC Joint Cooperation Committee while highlighting the significance of important projects like Main Line One (ML-1) and Karachi Circular Railway (KCR) in Pakistan’s development plans during the meeting held at PM House last week.
