Knowledge Track - CPEC Forum
Progress, Challenges, and Prospects of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC)
China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) has largely been construed as game changer for Pakistan’s economy and strategic future direction. The country has heavy reliance on the West for exports, and Arab countries along with USA and UK for expatriate’s remittances and bailout economic assistance. Economic collaboration with China, however, despite being close strategic ally, remained far from its true potential until recently. The situation started to get change with launch of China’s landmark Belt and Road Initiative, that has an ambitious vision of reshaping world’s trade and economic outlook. CPEC is an integral component of BRI, to be executed in Pakistan with a more than $65 billion investment in transportation, energy, and infrastructure sectors. While a number of projects in hydro and thermal energy and transportation sectors are under way, the second phase of the project is aimed at development of Economic Zones and transfer of Chinese low-end industry to Pakistan.
The progress on the CPEC projects and their consequential boost to the Pakistan’s economy has not been at par with the expectations. Among widely cited reasons for below expected performance range from geo-political factors to imprudent terms and conditions of the projects. While some analysist put the burden on inconstant political will and inability to undertake impenetrable security measures by Pakistani government, the other suggest that the inordinacy of interest rates and inadequate transparency in the bilateral contract proved to be inherent obstacles for the success of the projects. Covid 19, on the other hand, has certainly been a factor to slow down the progress on CPEC. Nevertheless, both governments have often reiterated their commitment to take the project to the accrual of genuine benefits and pave way to economic prosperity for the entire region. The objective of the CPEC Forum in 13th International Conference on Management Research (ICMR) is to discuss the progress, challenges, and way forward for capitalizing on the entrepreneurial opportunities in the context of CPEC in post pandemic world. Following are the tentative themes and important points for discussion by the esteemed panelists.
| Theme | Discussion Questions |
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Progress |
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Challenges |
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Prospects |
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