Pak PM Shahbaz Sharif's visit to China: Talks made between the two countries regarding CPEC

Pakistan Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif has arrived in China on his 2-day visit. During this, he will sign the documents of the CPEC Joint Cooperation Committee today. Under this, both countries have decided to move forward on the 10 billion dollar project (ML-1 project) of the rail route between Karachi and Peshawar.

This visit of PM Shahbaz Sharif is the first visit by any head of state after Jinping was elected president for the third time. During this time, Pakistan and China will focus on strengthening their relationship.

The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor is an ambitious plan of Chinese President Xi Jinping. It was started in 2013. In this, an economic corridor is being built from Gwadar in Pakistan to Kashgar in China at a cost of $ 50 billion (about Rs 3 lakh crore). Through this, China will have access to the Arabian Sea. Under CPEC, China is working on road, port, railway and energy projects.

Asia Times claimed that Pakistan's Imran government had offered to repeal the CPEC in early 2022. At the same time, there was opposition to CPEC in Gwadar, due to which this project was closed for two years. China was very angry with this. Now the Shahbaz government is trying to remove the resentment of China by re-introducing the CPEC.

Recently, in an opinion article in the Chinese newspaper Global Times, Shahbaz Sharif wrote – Pakistan can serve as a manufacturing base for China and the expansion of its industrial and supply chain network. The two countries are expected to intensify bilateral cooperation for corporate farming, the development of hybrid seed and high-yield crops, and the setting up of cold storage chains.

In a Global Times article, Shahbaz wrote – The new phase of CPEC will cover key sectors like industry, energy, agriculture, ICT, rail and road network. In addition, Gwadar port will be developed as a center for trade and transshipment, investment and regional connectivity.