Photo by Meng Fanrong/ China Economic Net

LAHORE, Dec. 12 (China Economic Net) - A full-day workshop on "Developing Leaders and Business Managers under the China Pakistan Economic Corridor" was held today in Lahore, the capital of Punjab province on 11 December.

The Workshop was attended by CEOs of some major companies and provided a unique opportunity to share insights and experiences borne out of the opportunities created by rapid expansion of CPEC in Pakistan. The Workshop was divided into various parts with interactive sessions as well as useful brainstorming sessions. It had two more notable parts namely a panel discussion and the concluding speech by the Chief Guest Salman Shah, Advisor on Finance to the Government of Punjab.

The Advisor in his remarks highlighted the achievements of the CPEC and how it was transforming Pakistan's economic and trade landscape.

The panel discussion was attended by Mr. Muhammad Mudassir Tipu, Director General China, Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Mr. Wang Zihai, Chief Representative of China RDI & President of Chinese Enterprises Service (Pvt.) Ltd; Dr. Mahmood Ahmad, Agriculture and Resource Economist-Water and Informatics Center, LUMS and Ms. Yang Naimin, CEO-TCL Electronics&Chairman of All-Pakistan Chinese Enterprises Association Lahore.

Mr. Tipu said that Chinese firms got business as their machinery was exported and came to Pakistan. The lack of infrastructure in Pakistan, especially in the power sector, was where a lot of the country's needs were met. Besides that, CPEC became a source of financing in large amounts which was previously unavailable for Pakistan. So a base for infrastructure was laid out in the first phase and now further developments will take place in the next phase.

Mr. Wang Zihai and Ms. Yang Naimin underscored that limitless opportunities existed as a result of CPEC's execution but underlined that Pakistan needed to bring far-reaching reforms in its cultural, educational, industrial, and economic policies to get advantage out of CPEC. Both speakers also highlighted China's experience of miraculous reforms that changed the destiny of China .

Mr. Tipu maintained that Pakistan's total public debt right now is $74bn of which the Chinese debt amounts to $18bn - even less than one-fourth of the total debt. The CPEC debt under this figure of public debt is $4.9bn - not even 10pc of the total debt, he stressed. Quoting Prime Minister Imran Khan, Tipu said that CPEC was a transformational project and had unleashed enormous economic opportunities across the region. He highlighted that Pakistan government has established a CPEC Authority to ensure that CPEC projects were completely expeditiously.

The speakers also emphasized that greater synergies may be created to deepen linkages between Western China and Pakistan. They noted that rising cost of labor in China as well as labor shortages were an opportunity for Pakistan to devise attractive policies which can help relocation of Chinese industries to Pakistan. Deeper cooperation between academia, policy-makers, and business leaders was urged to developed viable and inclusive policies to reap qualitative and strategic dividend from CPEC.

The speakers agreed that 9th Joint Cooperation Committee (JCC) Meeting held in Islamabad in November, which was co-chaired by Federal Minister for Planning, Development & Reform Makhdum Khusro Bakhtyar and Vice Chairman of National Development & Reform Commission (NDRC) Ning Jizhe, was a great success.

The speakers also noted that CPEC will be a gateway for progress and prosperity for a bright future. They asserted that 2019 was a significant year for China Pakistan Economic Corridor as several significant milestones were achieved or will be achieved by the end of the year. The recent visits of PM Imran Khan and his interaction with Chinese leadership have, in true sense, broadened and enhanced the scope of future cooperation in diverse fields of agriculture, industrial and socio-economic development.

Government of Pakistan this year took several important decisions that paved way for finalization of Gwadar Master Plan and preliminary design of ML-1 project, operationalization of Gwadar Port and free zone. Pakistan also made steady progress in resolution of matters regarding finalization of tariffs for the completed energy projects, Gwadar port concession.