Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Ahsan Iqbal said Tuesday that Chinese authorities have shown a willingness to invest in the mining sector in Pakistan.
During a meeting to review the progress over the 11th Joint Cooperation Committee (JCC) meeting scheduled to be held at the end of October, the minister said, “the Chinese are ready to set up a working group on the mining sector, therefore we must give them some tangible proposals.”
While directing the concerned ministry to make a tangible proposal in this regard, he stressed upon the ministries to make a concrete plan rather than a business-as-usual approach.
The minister directed the Power Division to expedite the approval process of energy policy for Gilgit Baltistan (GB) so that already agreed projects for GB could be pushed forward.
He further directed that the development and production facility of solar panels for domestic use as well as export may be considered for inclusion in the agenda of the meeting.
During a meeting, a representative from Information Technology Ministry informed the minister that both Pakistan and China have decided to set up six sub-working groups on communication technology infrastructure, application innovation, policy and regulation, HR development, cyber security, and radio spectrum regulation.
The meeting noted that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will be visiting China later this week. 11th JCC will have significance since the incumbent government has already revived CPEC projects which remained neglected during the last four years of PTI’s tenure, observed the participants.
During the meeting, several projects in various sectors like energy, transport, Information Technology, socio-economic development, industrial cooperation, science and technology, transport infrastructure, and international cooperation were discussed. The respective ministries shared their deliverable proposals of projects after conducting their Joint Working Groups (JWGs) which would now be taken up in JCC with the Chinese authorities.
It was proposed that the Pak-China Technology Business Forum will be formally established during the JCC meeting. The minister also directed the concerned ministries to focus on the long-term plans as well so projects could be operationalized.
The meeting was attended by the Secretary Planning Commission, Secretary of Communication, Executive Director China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), and representatives from various ministries.
Source: Pro Pakistan