This year the Chinese nation is celebrating the 71st anniversary of the establishment of the People’s Republic of China, which was a seminal event in history. On 1 October 1949, the Communist Party of China, after an epic struggle, succeeded in laying the foundations of a modern and self-confident China charting its own destiny.
In the past seven decades, China has achieved the scale and breadth of progress with few parallels in history. From an agrarian society in the 1950s, China has today emerged as the world’s second largest economy. In the past 70 years, China has brought about profound changes in its social, economic, technological, industrial and the decision-making institutions enabling it to assume a preeminent role in the comity of nations.
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Pakistan and China are closest friends, staunchest partners and iron-brothers. Pakistan has always stood by China in matters of its core national interests. We deeply value China’s consistent support for Pakistan’s territorial integrity, sovereignty, and economic development. Over the years, our relationship has become truly multi-faceted and multi-dimensional.
CPEC is a transformational project and has opened up significant and far-reaching opportunities for Pakistan. There is complete national consensus on CPEC’s indispensability for our national development efforts. In the first phase of CPEC, we have made major advancement in the domain of energy and infrastructure.
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Now, CPEC has entered its second phase with vigorous focus on industrialization, agriculture and socioeconomic development. We hope that the Special Economic Zones being built under CPEC will rejuvenate Pakistan’s process of industrialization and economic development. The Pakistan Government remains fully committed to the timely completion of all CPEC projects.
We hope that CPEC, as a flagship project of the BRI, will open up vast opportunities for the region’s growth, progress, and prosperity. Next year, Pakistan and China will be commemorating the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations.
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The two countries will celebrate this milestone occasion in a befitting manner. We need to deepen people-to people ties as well as social and cultural linkages between both countries so that our generations are aware of our common struggles as well as our common destiny.