STORY: CPEC brings hope, promise to the province I represent: Pakistani caretaker PM
DATELINE: Oct. 17, 2023
LENGTH: 00:02:36
LOCATION: Islamabad
CATEGORY: POLITICS

SHOTLIST:
1. various of CPEC projects
2. SOUNDBITE (English): ANWAR-UL-HAQ KAKAR, Pakistan's caretaker Prime Minister
3. various of a village in China
4. various of agriculture in Pakistan

STORYLINE:

This year marks the 10th anniversary of
the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)

Pakistan's caretaker PM Anwar-ul-Haq Kakar expressed
support for the BRI in an interview with Xinhua

SOUNDBITE (English): ANWAR-UL-HAQ KAKAR, Pakistan's caretaker Prime Minister
"Pakistan has a very deep appreciation and support of Belt and Road Initiative.
We are trying to not just learn from the Chinese experience, but to receive that kind of strength and support also, which brings Pakistani economy into a viable economy.
There is a deep appreciation across different sections of the society from the Pakistani side on the Belt and Road Initiative. And we do see the regional connectivity, the economic connectivity, which comprises many corridors, of which CPEC (China-Pakistan Economic Corridor) is just one.
Gwadar port (in Balochistan province) itself is one of the biggest gift which has been constructed under this framework. Then there are road networks, which we couldn't have thought of earlier to our experiment prior to CPEC. The journey between Gwadar and Quetta (capital city of Balochistan) would take almost 48 hours (in the past). And now the same journey, it takes almost 7.5 hours. So this is very impressive.
So Balochistan, when we link it with CPEC's mid-term and long-term projects, along with our own new SIFC initiative, it brings a lot of hope and promise to the province and region I represent in Pakistan.
And the way the Chinese experiment has taken people out of poverty, around 700 million people, this is like a miracle. And this miracle has been realized. It has been done through practical steps.
So there are a lot of lessons for Pakistani side that how do we do it. R&D, the kind of research and development in different areas of science and technology, be it strategic, or otherwise agriculture, information technology, different corporate companies, how they have been organized in this Chinese experiment of last three, four decades, is a huge accomplishment and a mesmerizing accomplishment. So Pakistan is seeking this partnership. This partnership has got a lot to offer to our side."

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Islamabad.
(XHTV)