Daily Times

President Xi Jinping of People’s Republic of China invited Prime Minister of Islamic Republic of Pakistan Mr. Imran Khan to attend the 2nd BRF in Beijing, China from April 25-28, 2019. China hosted this global event along with kick-starting the celebrations of 70th anniversary of Peoples of Republic of China. This year’s theme was “Belt and Road Cooperation: Shaping a Brighter Shared Future. “The Forum was inaugurated by President Xi Jinping on 26 April with his key note speech in which he reiterated “China pays high regard to the implementation of bilateral and multilateral economic and trade agreements it has signed with other parties”. It indicates the commitment of Chinese leadership to multilateralism and connectivity wherein President Xi did not bother to mention the United States in his speech for its economic approach and trade war with China. Pakistan is an important part of BRI with CPEC as Crown of BRI and the enthusiasm of People from both sides to put an effort to make this as one of the finest and active corridors of the multibillion-dollar project.

Prime Minister Imran Khan attended the BRF with a high-level delegation comprised state ministers and advisors. Prime Minister of Pakistan has also delivered a keynote speech in the inaugural session of the BRF and participated in the Leaders’ Round Table, a meeting of all Heads of States attending BRF. Moreover, he held bilateral meetings with President Xi, Chinese Premier Li and officials of Chinese Committee of Communist Party. He also spoke to the gathering of business men and corporate officials of business entities and invited them to invest in Pakistan saying it is the “best time to invest in Pakistan”. The key note speech of Prime Minister Imran Khan was of utmost importance because of the underlying wisdom in his words. He appeared to be a greater advocate of multilateralism and openness to the region and to the world where President Xi had earlier pledged to foster multilateral values and policy of engagement. Prime Minister Imran Khan lauds the success of BRF terming it a journey of nations towards better future along the path of globalization.

The positivity shared by both the leaders overshadows the doubts of misunderstanding between both states in the wake of Indo-Pak standoff. The re-assertion of cooperation between both sides indicate the progressive bilateral relationships. Pakistan has bagged major diplomatic and economic achievements during the 2nd BRF

Prime Minister Khan also stressed the need to establish joint fund for poverty alleviation from developing and underdeveloped countries and partnership in areas of education, health and agriculture and last but not least to partner in efforts to cope with climate change. He asserted to implement socio-economic projects on priority bases which would eventually uplift the living standards of Pakistani people under China Pakistan Economic Corridor. To implement the agenda of socio-economic development, Chinese government is would spend $1 billion through MOUs signed between Ministry of Planning, Development and Reforms and China International Development Cooperation Agency. The investments incorporating socio-economic development would focus on 27 different projects including poverty alleviation, human resource development, skilled labour, health, education, agriculture, water and irrigation and agriculture.

In addition to socio-economic agenda, trade has been in a limelight during the visit of Prime Minister Imran Khan to China as both partner states has inked 2nd Free Trade Agreement. This agreement would open reciprocal markets for China and Pakistan both to exports as former would facilitate 90 % of its markets while later would share 65 % of its market share. It would help Pakistan to bridge up bilateral trade gap which hiked up to $9.7 billion last year.

Apart from sharing ideas toward connectivity, integration and partnerships, this visit materializes six other MOUs with the commencement of 2nd phase of Free Trade Agreement. In addition to the state level MOUs, Pakistani side inked 16 different MOUs with Chinese companies to promote business to business relations and Foreign Direct Investment. Prime Minister Imran Khan extended his “unflinching commitment” to the CPEC and lauded the commencement of new phase. The outline of 2nd phase was concluded according to a priority policy of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf focusing on socio-economic development, poverty alleviation, health, education and agricultural related projects. According to the statement issued by Prime Minister Office of Pakistan, President Xi welcomed the socio-economic development agenda of Imran Khan for people centric progress.

The upgradation of railway and capacity building of Pakistan Railway is single biggest project between Pakistan and China under which the National Railway Administration of China would construct Main Line I for Pakistan Railways. It would not only increase the speed of trains but also increase passenger and freight trains each way daily. It was agreed upon to work out final cost of project before starting joint construction of the ML 1.

This visit of Imran Khan to China was second in six months preceding Foreign Ministers Strategic Dialogue in March 2019 marking its political significance where he held meetings with Chinese senior leadership. Prime Minister Office issued a statement reading “Both sides expressed satisfaction over the close cooperation between the two countries at multilateral for a and resolved to further deepen communication and coordination at all level”. President Xi extended his unflinching support to sovereignty and integrity of Pakistan and acknowledged Pakistani efforts to curb out the menace of Terrorism from Pakistan. He further called upon the world to acknowledge the efforts made by Pakistan to create environment conducive to trade and business in the region.

The positivity shared by both the leaders overshadows the doubts of misunderstanding between both states in the wake of Indo-Pak standoff. The re-assertion of cooperation between both sides indicate the progressive bilateral relationships. Pakistan has bagged major diplomatic and economic achievements during the 2nd BRF.

The Belt and Road Forum (BRF) offered a platform to the world as a whole to participate in summit to share views and experience regarding regional integration, policy synchronization, trade, commerce and socio-economic development. Over 40 Heads of the States (HOS) and representative delegations from 100 countries, international organizations and corporate sector were present at the forum making it a global success for China.

The writer is Director, Institute of Peace and Diplomatic Studies and Founder Centre for BRI and China Studies at the Institute