Chinese president's special representative calls for upgrading CPEC development

ISLAMABAD, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng, the special representative of Chinese President Xi Jinping, called for an upgrading of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) to promote a closer China-Pakistan community with a shared future in the new era.

He made the remarks on Monday while attending the Decade of CPEC celebration event in the Pakistani capital, during which he read President Xi's congratulatory letter and delivered a speech.

In his congratulatory letter, President Xi fully recognized the positive achievements and great significance of the construction of CPEC, which provided strategic guidance for the development of the corridor and the practical cooperation between China and Pakistan, He said.

Over the past 10 years, the construction of CPEC has adhered to the Silk Road spirit and yielded fruitful, mutually beneficial and win-win results, creating a successful practice of jointly building the Belt and Road, the special representative said.

He called for earnest implementation of the spirit of President Xi's congratulatory letter, creating an upgraded version of CPEC, and jointly building a growth corridor, a livelihood-enhancing corridor, an innovation corridor, a green corridor and an open corridor.

In his speech, Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif expressed his appreciation to President Xi for attaching great importance to Pakistan-China ties and CPEC, and for the support of the Chinese government and its people towards Pakistan.

The remarkable achievements of CPEC's construction have profoundly transformed Pakistan's economic and social landscape, Shahbaz said.

Pakistan is willing to learn from China's development experience, deepen cooperation with China in various fields, and pursue a path of self-reliance and strength, so as to better benefit the peoples of both countries, the prime minister said.

On Monday, Pakistani President Arif Alvi, Prime Minister Shahbaz and Chief of Army Staff Asim Munir met with He respectively. Both sides exchanged in-depth views on deepening traditional friendship and expanding practical cooperation, among other issues.

Launched in 2013, CPEC is a corridor linking the Gwadar port in southwestern Pakistan with Kashgar in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, which highlights energy, transport and industrial cooperation.