LAHORE
Renowned economic commentator, Faiz Ul Haq, has apprised that despite various international pressures, Pakistan has decided to proceed with the second phase of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC); which happens to be one of the most crucial strings of China’s futuristic One Belt, One Road (OBOR) intra-regional & inter-continental initiative – extending from the Baltics in Europe to Southeast Asia and from China to Africa.
Faiz Ul Haq explained that the second phase of CPEC could be the real game-changer vis-a-vis socio-economic uplift; as it shifts focus from basic and prerequisite industrial & communication network provisioning to industrial development & collaborations; technology transfer; foreign direct investment (FDI); joint ventures and inviting other countries for the same – primarily, the friendly & wealthy countries of Gulf Cooperation Organization (GCC); namely, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain.
It is pertinent to note that the federal cabinet of Pakistan has recently approved Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) to promote industrial cooperation with China; and, sending thousands of Pakistani engineers & technicians to China for training under rigorous, proven and world-class industrial standards of China. This will pave the way for technology transfer and setting up high-end industrial units; which will be the real deal for ushering Pakistan into a new era of industrialization after the long-drawn-out stagnation since the 1960s & early 1970s.
Faiz Ul Haq highlighted that, if the right industrial policies are adopted & preserved, the second phase of CPEC has the potential to create 500,000 new jobs by 2025 and 2 – 3 million jobs by 2030 – and, make no mistake, these jobs would be much higher-paying than the current average of Pakistani industrial workers.
Renowned economist Faiz Ul Haq also called upon Pakistan Software Houses Association (P@SHA); Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB); Special Technology Zones Authority (STZA); Federal & Provincial Boards of Investment and Ministry of IT & Telecom (MoITT) to think local but act in a global context; and, come up with the proposals of mega projects in software & app development; artificial intelligence; digitalizing governance; IT-enabled Services; FinTech; EdTech; IT skills development; business process re-engineering (BPR) and business process outsourcing (BPO) to be integrally incorporated into the various gigantic industrial undertakings under CPEC.
Faiz Ul Haq pinned his hopes in the potentially synergistic leadership complementarities of P@SHA Chairman Zohaib Khan and Federal IT Minister Syed Amin Ul Haque to persuade FBR & SBP to fall in line with the facilitative and incentivizing vision of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on digital economy, IT & ITeS.
