About CPEC
China-Pakistan Economic Corridor is a flagship project of President Xi Jinping’s vision of Belt and Road Initiative. The pilot project is the epitome of bolstered bilateral partnership between China and Pakistan that has been tested by times of difficulty and forged by mutual trust.
CPEC was formally launched in 2015 with the value of $46 billion. However, today, the cumulative value of all CPEC projects has amplified considerably. The vision and mission of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor is both to enhance Pakistan’s connectivity, accelerate its economic progress, and ensure sustainable development by modernizing its road, rail, air, energy, transportation systems and special economic zones and to connect the deep-sea Pakistani ports of Gwadar and Karachi to China’s Xinjiang province and beyond.
Based on the notion of win-win situation, CPEC has potential prospects of strategically connecting Pakistan and China by becoming a source of shipping millions of tons of goods from China to the Middle East, Africa and Europe via Gwadar port. Apart from benefitting Pakistan and China, CPEC offers a range of opportunities for the socio-economic development of landlocked Central Asian countries and will also maximize regional trade and connectivity in South Asia. The corridor will not only increase Pakistan’s economic and political clout but also enhance people to people cooperation across the regions.
President Xi has hailed ambitious Belt and Road initiative as “Project of the Century” and CPEC is widely remarked by sanguine observers of the world as harbinger of peace, prosperity and socio-economic progress for the people of Pakistan. Learning from Chinese experiences, Government of Pakistan is fully committed to steer people out of poverty, raise the standard of their lives and provide massive employment opportunities to its people through the timely completion of the projects under CPEC.
Given such monumental importance of the project, Honorable Speaker National Assembly, Mr. Asad Qaiser constituted Parliamentary Committee on CPEC to perform functions of robust oversight of CPEC projects. The Committee, under the vibrant Chairmanship of Honourable Sher Ali Arbab, MNA and having representation from both august Houses of the Parliament attempts to develop consensus about CPEC in Federation, deliberates, monitors and makes recommendations for speedy and timely implementation of the projects as well as suggests improvements that may result in cost and time reduction and provision of better services to the public.
Moreover, in order to keep the citizens informed and to ensure transparency, the Committee is also mandated with the task of presenting its periodical reports to both Houses of the Parliament.
