Deputy Chief of Mission, Embassy of China, Shi Yuanqiang, on Thursday said his country was willing to enhance cooperation with Pakistan in a number of projects, including IT, new energy and space field to help it secure a promising future.
He was speaking at a seminar titled ‘People-Centric Governance System: A Case Study of China’ hosted by Institute of Regional Studies (IRS) in collaboration with Asian Institute of Eco-Civilization, Research and Development (AIERD), says a press release.
Shi Yuanqiang said this was the first year of the second golden decade of Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and also the first year of the second decade of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
He went on to say that CPEC had brought a large amount of investments and jobs to enable Pakistan to achieve tremendous development in infrastructure and energy fields and lay a solid foundation for its social and economic development.
“We are ready to strengthen cooperation with Pakistan in energy and infrastructure construction and actively promote the second phase of the current Karakoram Highway, facilitate the operation of Askari hydropower project within this year, achieve the year-round opening of the Khunjerab Pass and help Pakistan consolidate its development foundation,” the Chinese envoy said.
He said China was willing to strengthen agriculture and mining cooperation, increase import of high quality agriculture products from Pakistan, explore cooperation in the development of oil and gas resources and help Pakistan leverage its development advantages.
Shi Yuanqiang also expressed Beijing’s willingness to strengthen construction in the Gwadar area and promote early operation of the new international airport, which would be inaugurated later this year.
Prime Minister’s Coordinator on Climate Change and Pakistan-China Parliamentary Friendship Group chairperson Romina Khurshid Alam said when it came to China-Pakistan relations, it was not only friendship but also what lessons we could learn, especially when it came to sustainable development goals (SDGs).
Ms Alam said she was thankful to National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq for having trust in her and giving her the opportunity to become the chairperson for Pakistan-China Parliamentary Friendship Group.
She said having served as a convener of the Parliamentary Task Force on SDGs, she knew about its importance and believed that nothing was bigger than SDGs because everything was included in it.
“When we talk about poverty, governance and deliverance, China has shown how they maintained the SDGs or Global Development Initiative (GDIs), as it is called in China, and brought people out of poverty and made their lives better,” she said.
Talking about women empowerment, she said China never pretended or boasted about working on women empowerment, but when one visited the country, they could find for themselves how much women empowerment was there.
She also said that Pakistan was actively pursuing people-centric climate and environment policy through a series of robust initiatives.
“Our national climate change policy, national adaptation plan, Green Pakistan programme and Recharge Pakistan project, all priortise the needs of the community while addressing challenges of climate change, Ms Alam said.
The PM’s aide said the climate action networks were deeply rooted in the principle that governance must serve the people. “We are committed to ensuring that all our environmental policies are designed ‘people-first approach’ and for that we are trying to engage local communities,” she added.
Former inspector general of police (IGP) Dr Syed Kaleem Imam said China had been able to excel in various fields due to good governance, good management and people-centric policies.
“People-centric governance prioritises the needs and welfare of the people,” he said, adding that good governance was perhaps the single most important factor.
He said people-centric governance evolved around transparency, efficiency, accountability and equity and ensured long-term planning and citizens’ involvement in policy-making at the local level.
Dr Imam also spoke about people-centric steps taken by Pakistan, and delved into their impact and utility, suggesting that Pakistan should learn from China.
Referring to China’s Poverty Alleviation Programme, the former IGP said the country had managed to bring almost 800 million people out of poverty and bring happiness to them.
Therefore, poverty reduction should be prioritised and local governance strengthened, he added.
Former ambassador to China Moinul Haque said good governance had remained an Achilles heel of Pakistan.
In the western media, China has been painted as having an authoritarian system, when in fact China is the largest democracy in the world because people are the center of the governance system, Mr Haque said, adding that in China, governance is about serving and not ruling.
Dr Sajid Amin from Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) said there were three lessons that Pakistan could learn.
First, he said, it should put economy over politics, as without focusing on and improving economy, it could not reduce poverty. He further said prosperity should be shared and regional disparity needed to go.
And lastly, Pakistan should invest in people, especially skill development, regretting that “we had the lowest social investment”.
He also stressed on promoting reliable data culture, as at the moment, we do not have much information about our own population.
Prof Zhou Rong of Renmin University China shared his understanding about the Chinese governance system, saying that it focused on the welfare and wellbeing of its people.
AIERD chief executive officer Shakeel Ahmed Ramay, who was the moderator of the event, said governance was the art and science of meeting the needs of the people, provide sense of security to them and keep their aspiration and dreams alive.
He said Chinese system was pluralistic, democratic and cooperative and above all, worked under rule of law.
IRS President Jauhar Saleem said China was a meritocracy, and that the Communist Party of China was committed to people-centric governance, political stability and economic development.
He said people were the foundation of the state, and that resources should easily be used for the betterment of the people and vice versa.
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