The 8th joint cooperation committee (JCC) meeting between Pakistan and China has set new targets for their bilateral cooperation, making CPEC a true economic corridor with multiple doors.
This was announced by Pakistan’s minister for planning, development and reform Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtiar after the conclusion of 8th JCC proceedings in Beijing on Friday.
The minister said that as per vision of the leadership, work on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) was accelerated and its scope was expanded by opening its doors for industrial cooperation, agriculture and socio-economic development.
He added that Pakistan and China had agreed to further strengthen the JCC mechanism through increased frequency of exchanges.
“Signing of MoU on industrial cooperation will steer Pakistan into a new era of industrialisation and help expedite development of Special Economic Zones (SEZs) through relocation of Chinese industries,” the minister said.
“Enhancing cooperation to cover diverse industries such as textile, petrochemical, iron and steel, mines and mineral, and automobile is a new target of CPEC.”
He noted that Pakistan-China cooperation in agriculture sector would focus on attracting investment in food production, processing, logistics, marketing and exports through joint ventures between companies of the two sides.
First meeting of the joint working group on agriculture is planned to be held in the first quarter of 2019.
He further said that in the next phase of CPEC, the two sides have agreed to cooperate in the maritime sector, port development and the automobile sector.

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