Pakistan preparing for 11th JCC meeting
ISLAMABAD, Jul. 27 (Gwadar Pro)- To review the progress made in the preparation for the 11th Joint Cooperation Committee (JCC) meeting on China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), the Pre-Joint Coordination Committee meeting was held Tuesday in Islamabad. The 11th JCC meeting is expected to be convened in August.
Professor Ahsan Iqbal, Federal Minister for Planning Development and Special Initiatives (PD&SI) presided over the meeting which was also attended by Foreign Secretary Sohail Mahmood and officials from Information Technology & Telecommunications (IC&T) and Power Division.
Third-party participation and extension of CPEC to Afghanistan were also discussed. It was pointed out that cooperation between thematic think tanks on both sides should be encouraged to further deepen the strategic economic cooperation under CPEC. The Minister was also apprised of the activities that are planned to promote the CPEC narrative at the national & global levels.
Power Division highlighted the agenda for the forthcoming 9th Joint Working Group on Energy (JEWG) meeting scheduled to be held in the 1st week of August. It was informed that 1124 MW Kohala and 700.7 MW Azad Pattan HPPs as well as 1320 MW Thar Coal power plant project will be taken up with the Chinese side in the meeting. A joint study for the future development of Thar Coal has also been made part of the agenda. The Minister underlined that measures have been taken to provide sufficient power for Gwadar city, and stressed the need for renewable energy projects for Gwadar city development in the future.
The Ministry of IC&T briefed the meeting on the agenda of the forthcoming 2nd JWG on IT with a focus on ICT infrastructure development, policy & regulations, human resource development, and Cyber Security.
Ahsan Iqbal stressed the need of cooperation with China in the IT sector, as China has emerged as the leader in Artificial Intelligence, and cooperation with China in this field has enormous promise for Pakistan.
The meeting also discussed projects in the agriculture and socio-economic sector for the forthcoming 11th JCC meeting. In the agricultural sector, it was underlined that China's expanding agricultural market provides significant potential for Pakistani exports.
Modernization and mechanization of agriculture in Pakistan should be carried out in the context of CPEC, as well as other measures to enable agricultural development and tap into the Chinese market for the mutual benefit of the two countries. FMD and quarantine issues were explicitly emphasized as important hurdles in meat export to China by a representative from M/o National Food Security, who informed the chair that they are being addressed on priority with the Chinese assistance.
Ahsan Iqbal urged boosting exchanges under CPEC to enable emerging leaders in diversified fields to experience China’s development and internalize it for the country’s development. “People-to-people exchange programs between China and Pakistan can contribute to the economic development of Pakistan,” he said.
