ISLAMABAD: Ambassador of China to Pakistan Yao Jing on Monday said that theFree Trade Agreement (FTA) Phase II between Pakistan and China would besinged on April 28, besides other important agreements related to ChinaPakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) during the visit of Prime Minister ImranKhan to China.
He said the FTA had been finally concluded after eight years ofnegotiations and it would be inked by the commerce ministers of twocountries during the visit of Pakistani prime minister.
Under the FTA-Phase II, Jing said, China would provide market access to 90%of Pakistani commodities at zero rated duty, while Pakistan would giveChina market access to 65 percent tariff lines.
He was addressing a press briefing here at the Chinese Embassy on theupcoming Second Belt and Road Forum to be held in Beijing from April 25 to27.
The ambassador said world leaders, including heads of state and governmentfrom 37 countries, would attend the Forum’s roundtable summit, but Pakistanbeing a major partner of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) was the mostimportant of all.
“The Chinese Prime Minister and President are looking forward to the visitof Prime Minister Imran Khan to China where he will also hold bilateralmeetings with the Chinese leadership to build more consensus on bilateraltrade ties,” he added.
The Chinese envoy pointed out that China wanted a more prosperous anddeveloped Pakistan as what he said without sustainable development in theneighbouring countries, China could not sustain its development.
He said under the CPEC’s industrial cooperation, the first Special EconomicZone (SEZ) at Rashakai was going to be inaugurated during the current monthwhere 20 factories would be set up initially.
He assured that employment in the SEZs would be given to the local peopleand the latest technology would be transferred from China to Pakistan.
Cooperation in industrial and social sectors would be the main focus ofsecond phase of CPEC, he added.
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“There are six areas in the social sector, including education, health,agriculture, water, irrigation, and poverty alleviation in which around 26new projects will be initiated in Pakistan,” he said.
The ambassador said two model villages would be built in Pakistan under thesocial sector cooperation of CPEC to uplift the living standard of lowincome segments of the society.
He said China was basically an agricultural country and it started itsdevelopment journey with bringing reforms in the agriculture sector. Itwould now help Pakistan in revolutionizing its agricultural sector bylinking it with the state of the art technology.
With respect to the multi-billion Railway ML1 project, the envoy said asits technical aspects had already been finalized, the project would hit theground soon.
He also invited the neighbouring countries to become part of the megaproject as it was not only beneficial to China and Pakistan but also forthe whole region.
To a question, Jing said 11 out of 22 projects had already been completedwhile the work on the remaining was going fast. In total $19 billion hadbeen invested by China on all the projects, $13 billion lent as commercialloans and $6 billion as concessionary loan to be repaid by the Pakistanigovernment in 25-30 years.
To a query regarding the Karachi Circular Railway, the Chinese envoy saidthe two sides were working on its financial model. Many options offinancial model, including build-operate-transfer (BOT), loaning, andfinancing from own resources, were under consideration, he added.
Regarding investment in Gilgit-Baltistan, Yao Jing said China was eager toupgrade and develop tourists sites in the area to provide facilities tolocal as well as foreign tourists.
