Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan, Jiang Zaidong Monday said that the Chashma Nuclear Power Plant Unit-5 can create 40,000 jobs directly and indirectly during the peak period of construction.
Addressing the First Concrete Date Ceremony for Chashma Nuclear Power Plant Unit-5, the ambassador extended congratulations on the ceremony of the C-5 project of the Chashma Nuclear Power Plant and expressed gratitude to both countries for their long-term promotion of practical cooperation.
He said that Pakistan has unique advantages in terms of location, language, and human resources, which can be combined with China’s advantages of technology, capital, and market experience, to jointly explore third-party markets.
Jiang Zaidong said, “We are pleased to see that according to the latest statistics from the State Bank of Pakistan, despite the overall sluggish economic environment, China’s direct investment in Pakistan accounted for 41% of the total investment in Pakistan in the past five months, which shows the vitality and potential of market-driven cooperation.”
He said that over the past year, in the face of a complex international environment, China-Pakistan relations, especially the practical cooperation between the two countries, have made progress.
“We are ready to continue to work with Pakistani, to adhere to combine high-quality development, to combine quantitative growth with qualitative improvement, to advance both major signature projects and small but beautiful public welfare projects in a coordinated manner, and to consolidate cooperation in traditional areas and steadily expand cooperation in emerging areas in a coordinated manner, so as to foster an upgraded version of CPEC.”
He said that the China will continue work with Pakistan to write a new chapter of practical cooperation, to accelerate the building of an even closer China-Pakistan community with a shared future in the new era, and to continuously enrich the vivid practice of high-quality Belt and Road cooperation and the promotion of building a community with a shared future for mankind.
He stressed the need to make coordinated efforts to promote the expansion and strengthening of non-CPEC projects. “China-Pakistan relations are all-weather, so our practical cooperation is naturally all-round.”
He said that the world’s highest altitude Khunjerab-Sost Pass has realized the all-year-round function. The Suki Kinari Hydropower Station, with a total investment of nearly US$2 billion, has been put into commercial operation.
The ambassador said, “These are just an epitome of the achievements of China-Pakistan practical cooperation, but they are good enough to reflect the tenacity and certainty of China-Pakistan cooperation.”
He said, “We need to closely focus on an upgraded version of CPEC and take more specific and practical measures to adhere to common development and build a growth corridor as the key is to make full use of Pakistan’s industrial advantages.
The ambassador said “We hope and believe that Pakistan will attach importance to maintaining and expanding this good momentum and provide a better business for Chinese companies.”
He said that the successful practice in power and mining cooperation shows that, non-CPEC projects have good benefits, great potential and broad prospects.
They can definitely become bigger and stronger, and be developed in a coordinated manner together with CPEC projects, so as to jointly deepen hard connectivity of infrastructure, soft connectivity of standards, and heart connectivity between the people of the two countries.
These projects have not only brought considerable economic benefits, but also created a large number of jobs and brought about good social benefits, the ambassador said.
