November 7, 2018 (MLN): Advisor to Prime Minister on commerce, Mr. Abdul Razak dawood and Federal Minister for Planning, Development Mr. Khusroo Bakhtir during a press conference discussed matters pertaining to China and CPEC.
The duo stated that Pakistan will get market access in China.
They also said that the CPEC program is for 30 years, therefore the priorities under this program will change accordingly. As of now, agriculture and trade are most preferred constituents under CPEC.
Earlier, power sector development was on the preferred list of CPEC.
As per their statements, government has requested duty relaxation from China, and wants same duty structure as given to ASEAN and Bangladesh.
Furthermore, they said that government wants to double trade volume with China hence, exports to China will see an increase of $1 billion.
China will mainly import kinnow and rice and also will give duty free access of products valuing $1 billion to Pakistan
Under CPEC, a working group has been formed on poverty alleviation and several agreements have been signed with China to reduce poverty. The working group will meet soon to talk upon poverty.
Moreover, ways and means will be discussed to install oil refinery at Gwadar to reduce import bill.
It was agreed that priority will be given to run power plants on wind.
Through CPEC, the government also plans to curb unemployment by providing thousands of jobs to locals.
Both China and Pakistan recently agreed that third party investment can take place under CPEC program.
The final shape on currency swap arrangement shall take place on November 9th.
A renewed agreement will take place on FTA in June 2019.
