In Radio Pakistan's Current Affairs programme, economist Dr. Shahid Hassan Khan said that the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) will help Pakistan develop infrastructure which the country has desired since independence. Another economist Dr. Anwar Shah indicated that under CPEC capital will be invested all over the country.[1] Similarly, the Minister for Planning, Development and Reforms, Ahsan Iqbal, said that he believed 2016 would be a year of innovation, eminence and productivity for Pakistan. He said that the CPEC project would transform Pakistan into an economic hub and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Balochistan would benefit equally. He added that efforts were underway under Vision 2025 for making Pakistan the 25th largest economy in the world over the next decade.[2] Adviser to Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz has also termed CPEC a key to curb poverty in the country. He said that it would offer employment opportunities and could act as a bulwark against the forces of extremism and terrorism.[3] The Chinese edition of the state-run tabloid Global Times conducted a survey where more than 200,000 internet users took part. Results indicate that people in China are keen to move ahead with Pakistan, rather than other neighboring countries, such as India.[4] Despite the aforementioned significance of the CPEC project, the political conflict still persists. The current government has been maligned by the Pakistan People’s Party of (PPP) for not taking the parliament on the board on this issue. The PPP denied the legal position of an 11-member committee instituted by the PM for the provincial level consultations over CPEC and considering the option to hold demonstration against the PM Nawaz Sharif in the upcoming session of the National Assembly.[5] [1] http://www.radio.gov.pk/newsdetail/81977/1 [2] http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/business/17-Jan-2016/pakistan-poised-to-rank-among-25-big-economies-by-2025 [3]...

ISLAMABAD - Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif yesterday summoned an all parties conference (APC) to meet today (Friday) to iron out differences and address concerns of the smaller provinces and regional parties on the vital China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. Officials said the prime minister wanted to address the grievances of the smaller provinces and the smaller parties in the APC. CPEC is a vital part of Silk Road Initiative - a vision and strategy of China to expand cultural and economic ties with Eurasian countries through cooperation and communication. In 2013, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced the Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st Century Maritime Silk Road Initiative to promote connectivity, cooperation and common prosperity along the ancient land and maritime Silk Road trade routes. The Belt and Road routes run through Asia, Europe and Africa, connecting the vibrant East Asia economic circle at one end and the developed European economic circle at the other, and encompassing countries with huge potential for economic development, according to an official publication by the Chinese government. Also in 2013, Pakistani-Chinese governments agreed to launch a landmark project called CPEC which will connect Pakistan’s deep sea Gwadar Port with China’s Xinjiang region. Both Pakistan and China are discussing a number of mega projects under the rubric of Economic Corridor in several fields like energy, infrastructure and connectivity which would revitalise Pakistan’s economy. The Economic Corridor, with a total investment of $46 billion, is a new glaring example of the close friendship between Pakistan and China. Officials said members of the committee formed in Peshawar’s APC will attend the meeting along with Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (Fazl) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Awami National Party leader Asfandyar Wali Khan, Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party leader Mehmood Khan Achakzai, Jamaat-e-Islami leader Sirajul Haq, Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Pervez Khattak, Pakistan...

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s two-billion-dollar LNG pipeline project has hit a snag with Washington slapping a set of sanctions on the Russian firm designated to work on the scheme. Earlier, Pakistan was unable to execute the Iran-Pakistan (IP) gas pipeline project because of sanctions slapped on Tehran by the United States and the European Union. The Russian government had signed a deal with the Pakistani administration to lay a $2bn North South Pipeline from Karachi to Lahore to transport imported LNG, nominating the firm RT Global Resources (RTGR) to execute the project. Russian President Vladimir Putin was to visit Pakistan to perform the ground-breaking ceremony of the project. “Now we have found out that the US has imposed sanctions on RTGR, causing bottlenecks in executing the LNG pipeline project,” a Pakistani official said, adding that the US had also stopped Pakistan from executing the IP gas pipeline project. After the latest development, Pakistan and Russia are facing an uncertain situation as regards awarding the contract to RTGR. The two countries had signed a government-to-government deal, and RTGR and Pakistani firm Inter State Gas Systems were to sign a commercial agreement to execute the project. An official said the Russian government was evaluating the sanctions imposed on the Russian firm while Pakistan was yet to make a decision. The two governments had signed a deal in October 2015 to construct a pipeline to transport liquefied natural gas from Karachi to Lahore. Moscow had agreed to lend Islamabad $2 billion for the project. In return, Islamabad would award the contract of laying the pipeline to RTGR without holding a bidding process. The firm, which is a Russian state corporation, would lay the 1,100km pipeline with a capacity of 12.4 billion cubic metres per annum to connect LNG terminals in Karachi with those in Lahore. Pakistan has worked on a similar model with China under which a Chinese firm would lay an LNG pipeline from Gwadar to...

The raging discord over the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC)symbolises one of the many symptoms of the disease that our political economy suffers from — an arbitrary, non-inclusive, narrow and selfish vision of national development. Even sadder is the intervention by the Chinese embassy in Islamabad on January 10: “China hopes that the relevant parties in Pakistan could strengthen communication and coordination on the CPEC to create favourable conditions for the project.” This amounted to a direct rebuke of the province-centred “development visions” of Asif Ali Zardari and the Sharifs. For these leaders, initiating the CPEC meant concentrating development in their home provinces. The embassy statement, in fact, resonated similar concerns that Chinese interlocutors had been expressing earlier. One had expected that following the agreement at the All-Parties Conference (APC) on May 28, 2015, the western alignment of the CPEC — from Attock to DI Khan in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) and to Zhob, Qilla Saifullah, Pishin and Quetta in Balochistan — would take precedence and thus allay reservations of the two provinces. But this turned out to be a misplaced expectation. Now we see the K-P chief minister threatening revolt against the CPEC plans and accusing the Sharif government of being unmindful of the problems of conflict-affected regions such as Balochistan and K-P. The political parties of the two provinces are demanding the construction of motorways, economic and industrial zones, oil and gas pipelines and fibre optic lines through their respective provinces. The issue has roots in the history of mistrust between the Centre and the smaller provinces. Even the Pakhtun nationalist Awami National Party has reservations, but it understands that opposition to the CPEC may jeopardise the project. The PPP, too, alleges that most CPEC projects are concentrated in Punjab. The party even plans an APC in Gilgit to press for the inclusion of Gilgit-Baltistan in the CPEC...

The raging discord over the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC)symbolises one of the many symptoms of the disease that our political economy suffers from — an arbitrary, non-inclusive, narrow and selfish vision of national development. Even sadder is the intervention by the Chinese embassy in Islamabad on January 10: “China hopes that the relevant parties in Pakistan could strengthen communication and coordination on the CPEC to create favourable conditions for the project.” This amounted to a direct rebuke of the province-centred “development visions” of Asif Ali Zardari and the Sharifs. For these leaders, initiating the CPEC meant concentrating development in their home provinces. The embassy statement, in fact, resonated similar concerns that Chinese interlocutors had been expressing earlier. One had expected that following the agreement at the All-Parties Conference (APC) on May 28, 2015, the western alignment of the CPEC — from Attock to DI Khan in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) and to Zhob, Qilla Saifullah, Pishin and Quetta in Balochistan — would take precedence and thus allay reservations of the two provinces. But this turned out to be a misplaced expectation. Now we see the K-P chief minister threatening revolt against the CPEC plans and accusing the Sharif government of being unmindful of the problems of conflict-affected regions such as Balochistan and K-P. The political parties of the two provinces are demanding the construction of motorways, economic and industrial zones, oil and gas pipelines and fibre optic lines through their respective provinces. The issue has roots in the history of mistrust between the Centre and the smaller provinces. Even the Pakhtun nationalist Awami National Party has reservations, but it understands that opposition to the CPEC may jeopardise the project. The PPP, too, alleges that most CPEC projects are concentrated in Punjab. The party even plans an APC in Gilgit to press for the inclusion of Gilgit-Baltistan in the CPEC...

The raging discord over the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC)symbolises one of the many symptoms of the disease that our political economy suffers from — an arbitrary, non-inclusive, narrow and selfish vision of national development. Even sadder is the intervention by the Chinese embassy in Islamabad on January 10: “China hopes that the relevant parties in Pakistan could strengthen communication and coordination on the CPEC to create favourable conditions for the project.” This amounted to a direct rebuke of the province-centred “development visions” of Asif Ali Zardari and the Sharifs. For these leaders, initiating the CPEC meant concentrating development in their home provinces. The embassy statement, in fact, resonated similar concerns that Chinese interlocutors had been expressing earlier. One had expected that following the agreement at the All-Parties Conference (APC) on May 28, 2015, the western alignment of the CPEC — from Attock to DI Khan in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) and to Zhob, Qilla Saifullah, Pishin and Quetta in Balochistan — would take precedence and thus allay reservations of the two provinces. But this turned out to be a misplaced expectation. Now we see the K-P chief minister threatening revolt against the CPEC plans and accusing the Sharif government of being unmindful of the problems of conflict-affected regions such as Balochistan and K-P. The political parties of the two provinces are demanding the construction of motorways, economic and industrial zones, oil and gas pipelines and fibre optic lines through their respective provinces. The issue has roots in the history of mistrust between the Centre and the smaller provinces. Even the Pakhtun nationalist Awami National Party has reservations, but it understands that opposition to the CPEC may jeopardise the project. The PPP, too, alleges that most CPEC projects are concentrated in Punjab. The party even plans an APC in Gilgit to press for the inclusion of Gilgit-Baltistan in the CPEC...