The Main Line-1 (ML-1) and the Karachi Circular Railway (KC) projects under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor should be implemented more quickly, according to Federal Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal (CPEC).
Following the 11th Joint Cooperation Committee (JCC) meeting held last month and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s most recent trip to China, the planning minister reviewed the status of the CPEC projects on Tuesday and instructed the concerned parties to quicken the implementation of the agreement reached between the leaderships of Pakistan and China.
Both parties agreed to speed up CPEC projects at the 11th JCC, which was co-chaired by the planning minister and China Lin Nianxiu, Vice Chairman National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), last month. Several memorandums of understanding (MoUs) were also signed during Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif’s recent trip to China.
The minister was updated on the status of the JWGs’ work since the JCC by the conveners of the Joint Working Groups (JWGs) on energy, transportation infrastructure, Gwadar, socioeconomic development, security, long-term planning of CPEC, industrial cooperation, international cooperation, science and technology, and agriculture cooperation.
The minister gave the officials orders to speed up and eliminate any obstacles to the ML-1 and KCR projects, which were approved by the 11th JCC.
In order to follow up on decisions made at the 11th JCC and the PM’s visit to China, the minister also instructed the Pakistani Embassy in China to convene a meeting with the Chinese side. In order to monitor the advancement of the CPEC projects, he also requested that the Pakistani Embassy in China set up an online meeting with the Vice Chairman of the NDRC.
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