ISLAMABAD: The China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is ushering new era of cooperation and exchanges between the two countries in multiple areas including energy, industries, culture, and trade & commerce.
The first phase of the CPEC (2015-2020) has made significant progress, with most of the planned projects in the transport infrastructure and energy sectors successfully implemented and under implementation.
According to an article published by the CGTN think tank, the early-harvest projects in the first phase of the CPEC have created about 38,000 jobs, more than 75% of which are local jobs.
Among them, energy projects have created the most jobs, absorbing a total of 16,000 jobs. Pakistani workers and engineers are employed. The construction of transportation infrastructure has created about 13,000 jobs. Among them, the largest infrastructure project under the Corridor Project, Peshawar-Karachi Expressway (Sukkur-Multan Section), has absorbed 9,800 Pakistani workers, and Karakoram the second phase of highway upgrading, and reconstruction created 2,071 local jobs.
In 2018, the article said the bilateral trade volume between Pakistan and China was US$19.08 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 5%. From January to December 2020, the bilateral trade volume between Pakistan and China was US$17.49 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 2.7%; from January to December 2021, the bilateral trade volume between Pakistan and China was US$27.82 billion, a year-on-year increase of 59.1%. Among them, China’s exports to Pakistan were US$24.23 billion, a year-on-year increase of 57.8%.
According to an article published by the CGTN think tank, imports from Pakistan were US$3.59 billion, a year-on-year increase of 68.9%.
According to Pakistani statistics, China has been Pakistan’s largest trading partner for six consecutive years since fiscal year 2015 and is Pakistan’s largest source of imports and second largest export destination. In the fiscal year 2019-2020, the total bilateral trade was US$10.67 billion, and the trade volume between Pakistan and China accounted for 16.7% of the total trade volume of Pakistan.
Before 2015, Pakistan suffered from power shortages. Power outages took place all over the country. Major cities were out of power for about 10 hours a day, and rural areas are out of power for about 22 hours a day.
The article said the national average power shortage was 4,000 hours of megawatts.-Agencies
