CPEC International Cooperation Coordination Working Group meeting held in Xinjiang

Beijing: Pakistan and China has reaffirmed their commitment to implement the consensus reached by their leadership regarding promoting CPEC to tilt towards industries, agriculture, science and technology, and social and people’s livelihood, expand to underdeveloped areas and turn it into a demonstration project for high-quality development of the Belt and Road Initiative.

The commitment was made during the second meeting of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor International Cooperation and Coordination Working Group held in Urumqi, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian said during his regular briefing here on Monday.

The two sides reasserted that the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) was an open and inclusive initiative, upholding the principles of extensive consultation, joint construction, and sharing, and would carry out the corridor construction cooperation with third parties on the basis of consensus and full demonstration between China and Pakistan.

The meeting was co-chaired by Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Luo Zhaohui and Pakistan’s Foreign Secretary Sohail Mahmood.

Pakistan’s Ambassador to China Moin ul Haque flew from Beijing to Urumqi to attend the meeting.

The two sides reviewed the work progress made since the first meeting of the working group on April 9, 2019, and agreed that the two countries would cooperate closely and support each other during the COVID-19 pandemic, laying a foundation for economic recovery in the post-epidemic era and injecting new ideas into the corridor construction power.

They agreed to continue to publicize the positive impact of the corridor on the improvement of local people’s livelihood, and promptly clarify false reports involving the corridor, encourage the media, film and television, and publishing communities of the two countries to strengthen cooperation on corridor-related topics, and welcome bilateral and multilateral exchanges on the corridor construction by think tanks, experts and scholars of the two countries to jointly expand the influence of the corridor and promote the high-quality development of the Belt and Road Initiative.

Both the sides signed the minutes of the meeting, reflecting the consensus reached at it.

The senior officials from both the countries assisted the respective delegations during the meeting.