BEIJING – Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Professor Ahsan Iqbal will represent Pakistan at the 14th session of the Pakistan-China Joint Coordination Committee (JCC) in Beijing on Friday.
In new Balochistan news updates, in a statement ahead of the meeting, he emphasized that the JCC is the highest decision-making platform for the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), where officials will assess ongoing projects and add new areas of cooperation.
Calling the 14th JCC a “historic turning point,” Iqbal said the meeting will formally launch Phase II of CPEC, transforming it into a genuine “People’s Corridor of Prosperity.”
He stressed that this next stage is people-centered rather than limited to infrastructure, aiming to enhance skills, innovation, and youth empowerment to strengthen the “software” of Pakistan’s economy.
Exports, he noted, will be the key growth engine as Pakistan and China deepen their long-standing partnership for regional prosperity.
CPEC Phase II—often referred to as CPEC 2.0—builds on the first phase of large-scale energy projects, highways, and port development that began in 2015 under China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
Balochistan News Updates:
While Phase I focused on physical infrastructure and power generation, Phase II targets socio-economic growth.
Planned initiatives include special economic zones, industrial parks, technology transfer, vocational training centers, agricultural modernization, and digital connectivity.
The goal is to diversify Pakistan’s economy, create sustainable employment, and integrate local industries into global value chains.
By emphasizing human capital—through education, skill development, and entrepreneurship—CPEC 2.0 seeks to make economic gains more inclusive and position Pakistan as a competitive hub for trade and innovation in the broader South and Central Asian region.
Launched in 2015 as a flagship of China’s Belt and Road Initiative, the first phase of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) concentrated on building Pakistan’s core infrastructure.
Key achievements included the construction of highways and motorways linking Gwadar Port to the national road network, expansion of Gwadar’s deep-sea port, and completion of multiple power projects that added thousands of megawatts to the grid, helping ease chronic energy shortages.
CPEC I also funded early industrial zones and fiber-optic links to improve regional connectivity.
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This foundation of transport and energy infrastructure paved the way for Phase II’s shift toward industry, technology, and socio-economic development.
