Private sector should play leading role in construction of CPEC: Pakistani minister

LAHORE, Pakistan, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- Pakistani private sector should play a leading role in the construction of the second phase of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), Pakistani Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb said on Tuesday via Zoom link.

Addressing the High-Level Private Sector Dialogue on "Leveraging Private Capital for CPEC II and the Region," one of the series events of the Pakistan Regional Economic Forum, the minister said the first phase of the CPEC construction was about infrastructure and the second phase of CPEC will be the monetization of the infrastructure.

Pakistan's current macroeconomic situation is stabilizing as the inflation rate has started decreasing, laying a good economic foundation for the second phase of the CPEC, he said.

The minister expressed confidence that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) board will approve a 37-month Extended Fund Facility worth 7 billion U.S. dollars, and expressed gratitude to China for its support of the IMF program as Pakistan's longstanding partner.

Khalid Mansoor, the former special assistant to the prime minister of Pakistan on the CPEC, presented potential projects in agriculture, textile, information technology, mining and other fields for the private sector, saying that all the projects should substitute the import, export-oriented and create the employment which is needed.

Speaking at the event, Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan Jiang Zaidong said Pakistan has advantages in geographical location, and human and natural resources, adding that under the leadership of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, the Pakistani government has done massive work and achieved a lot.

China is willing to work with Pakistan to strengthen confidence, work hard, consolidate, deepen and expand cooperation and help Pakistan achieve sustainable development, the ambassador added.

The event was well attended by a diverse audience, including entrepreneurs, media personnel and diplomats, reflecting widespread interest in the future of CPEC.

Launched in 2013, the CPEC, a flagship project of the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative, is a corridor linking the Gwadar Port in southwest Pakistan's Balochistan province with Kashgar in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, which highlights energy, transport, and industrial cooperation in the first phase, while the new phase expands to fields of agriculture and livelihood, among others.