PM Shehbaz says he was greatly delighted to receive Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng & members of his delegation who came to Pak to join us in celebrating the Decade of CPEC

ISLAMABAD, July 31 (SABAH): Prime Minister Mian Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif has said that he was greatly delighted to receive Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng and the members of his delegation who came to Pakistan to join us in celebrating the Decade of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

In a statement issued on twitter on Monday, PM Shehbaz Sharif said that as a special envoy of President Xi Jinping, he brought with him a message of abiding friendship with Pakistan and its people.

He said that over the last 10 years, CPEC has emerged as a bedrock of Pakistan’s socio-economic trajectory, helping us end crippling energy shortages, building high quality infrastructure, and promoting connectivity and integration not only within Pakistan’s various regions but also with the neighbouring countries.

PM Shehbaz Sharif said that for us, CPEC is not merely a collection of different projects but a symbol of prosperity and shared development. He said that it is a reflection of our relentless fight against poverty, unemployment and underdevelopment.

PM Shehbaz Sharif said that while the first phase of CPEC was about fixing the ‘hardware’ side of development, the upcoming second phase will upgrade the ‘software’ of development by focusing on agriculture, science and technology, skill development, innovation, industrialization, economic growth, health and education.

PM Shehbaz Sharif said that on this occasion, I would like to pay rich tributes to President Xi Jinping, and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for their pioneering role in conceiving and implementing CPEC as a flagship project of the Belt and Road Initiative. President Xi’s global leadership and vision of shared development is making a huge difference in the betterment of our world, especially the Global South, he said. 

“As PM, I am happy to play my humble part in removing all the bottlenecks in the way of CPEC and putting it back on track. Together China and Pakistan will redefine not only the destiny of their people but also of the region” PM Shehbaz Sharif said.