Islamabad: December 16th, 2021: The 3rd meeting of Joint Working Group on Socio-Economic Development under CPEC was held under the co-chairmanship of Mr. Abdul Aziz Uqaili, Secretary, Planning Development & Special Initiatives and Mr. Deng Boqing, Chairman, China International Development Cooperation Agency (CIDCA) to review the progress of current projects and deliberated on potential new projects to enhance cooperation in the Socio-Economic Development under CPEC. The Group was established in November, 2018 under CPEC framework to ensure that economic dividends of CPEC projects reach the less developed areas and peoples’ livelihood are improved.
Both sides expressed satisfaction on steady progress of the 1st Batch (17 Fast Track) projects of and 2nd Batch (10 Priority) projects despite the Covid-19 pandemic. The Convenor (Pakistani side) thanked the Government and people of China for their generous support to Pakistan for tackling the Covid-19 Pandemic, especially the timely supply of vaccines. He also thanked the Chinese counterparts for their support and assistance to the Government of Pakistan for socio economic development. The Chairman of CIDCA (Convenor of Chinese side) reiterated China’s strong support for the people and Government of Pakistan and stated that the two iron brothers have always helped & supported each other. He recalled Pakistan’s support to China in the early phase of the pandemic and stated that such help is highly valued.
Pakistani side shared the proposed 3rd Batch of projects for consideration of Chinese counterparts. The projects were finalized after due consultations with stakeholders including all Provinces, AJK and Gilgit Baltistan. It was decided to further enhance bilateral cooperation and implementation mechanism by constituting sub-committees at working level on both sides.
The meeting was attended by representatives of federal ministries and all the provincial governments, AJK and Gilgit Baltistan and 11 relevant departments of the Government of China. The Embassies of the two countries also joined the meeting.