Daily Times

Ishaq Dar, Pakistan’s deputy prime minister and foreign minister, on Tuesday addressed a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization’s (SCO) Council of Foreign Ministers in Kazakhstan, where he highlighted Pakistan’s geostrategic location as a trade and transit hub, the Pakistani foreign ministry said.

Dar arrived in Astana, Kazakhstan on Monday to represent Pakistan at the two-day meeting of the SCO Council of Foreign Ministers. Founded in 2001, the SCO is a major trans-regional organization spanning South and Central Asia, with China, Russia, Pakistan, India, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan as its permanent members.

The meeting comes at a time when Pakistan is making rigorous efforts to increase bilateral trade and investment with a number of countries and has aimed to enhance its role as a pivotal trade and transit hub connecting the Central Asian republics with the rest of the world, leveraging its strategic geographical position.

Addressing the SCO foreign ministers’ meeting, Dar explained Pakistan’s priorities as the current Chair of SCO Council of Heads of Government (CHG), including promoting connectivity, development of transport links, youth empowerment, poverty alleviation and enhanced practical cooperation among SCO member states.

“The Deputy Prime Minister said that Pakistan’s geostrategic location offers an ideal trade and transit hub for the SCO region,” the Pakistani foreign ministry said in a statement. “He underlined the significance of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor for regional connectivity and economic integration.”

CPEC, part of President Xi Jinping’s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative, is a $65 billion network of roads, railways, pipelines and ports in Pakistan that aims to connect China to the Arabian Sea and help Islamabad expand and modernize its economy.

The project spans several phases, each with distinct goals and impacts on the region. The first phase began in 2015 and mainly focused on building critical infrastructure, particularly in the transportation and energy sectors. The second phase expands the focus to include industrial cooperation, agricultural development and the promotion of social and economic development.

The second phase is also expected to include the development of Special Economic Zones (SEZs), efforts to boost green energy production like hydropower and solar energy, and initiatives to modernize agriculture and increase exports.

On a visit to China this month, Dar said Pakistan and Beijing needed to finalize modalities for other countries to be part of the multi-billion-dollar corridor as Islamabad seeks to attract foreign investment into Pakistan.

“As we embark on phase two of CPEC we look forward to developing corridors of growth, livelihood, innovation, green development, and inclusivity to carry forward our shared vision of making CPEC an inclusive and transparent project,” Dar said. “We also need to finalize the modalities for third party participation in CPEC.”

Pakistan, faced with low foreign exchange reserves, currency devaluation and high inflation, has been pushing for an increase in bilateral trade and investment, with Islamabad seeing a flurry of high-level exchanges from diplomats and business delegations in recent weeks from Saudi Arabia, Japan, Azerbaijan, Qatar and other countries. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has vowed to rid the South Asian country of its chronic macroeconomic crisis through foreign investment and efficient handling of the economy.