Pakistan's CPEC think tank struggles to provide guidance

A policy think tank set up for the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project at a cost of Pakistani Rupees 1.2 billion to fill policy gaps has failed in providing guidance to the Ministry of Planning and Development and other relevant ministries.

According to The Express Tribune, the Centre of Excellence is struggling to perform its core tasks even two years after its establishment due to the misplaced priorities of the government.

A Pakistan government official involved in setting up the centre said, a home-grown policy was missing to guide the USD 60 billion CPEC and because if that the Centre of Excellence was approved so that the country can have research-based studies in important areas of CPEC.

Pakistan government had set up the Centre two-years ago with the aim of providing "policy guidelines to the Ministry of Planning and Development and other relevant ministries" in integrating the economies of the two countries.

However, the Pakistan government downplaying the Centre's internal papers that showed work in most of the targetted areas remains behind schedule. Targetted it to highlight that work on proposed Priority Special Economic Zones under CPEC, Factor Endowments Opportunities and Prospects has not been completed yet.

China and Pakistan will also use the Chinese currency Yuan for bilateral trade and investment activities.

The Joint Cooperation Committee (JCC) of the CPEC had approved the Long-Term Plan (LTP 2017-30) without agreeing on development projects and special economic zones on November 21 last year.

China came up with its One Belt One Road (OBOR) initiative in 2013.

The project comprises a network of railways, roads and pipelines that would connect Pakistan's port city of Gwadar in the province of Balochistan, with the Chinese city of Kashgar in landlocked Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR).

The human rights activists have, time and again, spoken about and highlighted the growing atrocities of Pakistan on the indigenous people of Balochistan and deteriorating human rights situation as a result of the CPEC.