Islamabad, June 13, 2019 (PPI-OT): The Parliamentary Committee on CPEC, met here today, at the Parliament House under the Chairmanship of Mr. Sher Ali Arbab, MNA. The Committee was briefed by the Ministries like National Food Security and Research, Commerce and Textile, Board of Investment and the lead Ministry of Planning Development and Reforms.
The unprecedented part of the proceedings was the presence of Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed, former Chairman of Parliamentary Committee on CPEC, who was invited by the Committee to share his experiences and guideline for the future. During the talk delivered by Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed, he personally thanked the Committee for inviting him as a special invitee and his presence here is the manifestation of Parliamentary political maturity which is an essential ingredient for fast track economic development and growth as well as to attract the Foreign Investors for the country passing through a crucial financial crises.
Mr. Mushahid Hussain Syed lauded the role of Peoples Republic of China and its leadership for demonstrating their confidence in Pakistan’s future when rest of the world shied away which is a clear sign of time tested long lasted exemplary friendship for all times to come between the two countries. He also advised the Committee that CPEC is a mega project of national strategic importance which needs to be dealt above the party lines and in the best public interest only. He also given answers to different complex sensitive questions of the Honorable Members in an appropriate manner while satisfying them their concerns, keeping in view of the present regional and international geo political environment.
During the briefings of the different Ministries the Chairman expressed his dissatisfaction and asked the relevant Secretaries to put more efforts and bring in the next meeting the details of the presentations including the criteria and need assessment data to justify their forecast. The Chairman and the Members also stressed the need to take the public representatives of these areas where CPEC project are being proposed and carrying out being the real stake holders. The Chairman also pointed out that the implementation and progress of all the CPEC projects must be shared with the Committee in order to remove difficulties and traditional bureaucratic delays.
The Chairman also emphasized that the Special Economic Zones (SEZs) are the vital part of CPEC, therefore, its visualization, selection and implementation must be done while considering the views and inputs of real stakeholders as well as the market forces. In this connection, we may also study the best role models and take advantage of the experiences of the other development countries particularly, Singapore who had successfully implemented in the recent past.
The Committee as per agenda item number i, ii and iii approved the decisions of the last meetings and also approved the proposed rules unanimously. The meeting was attended by Mr. Noor Alam Khan, MNA, Mr. Sadaqat Ali Khan, MNA, Mir Khan Muhammad Jamali, MNA, Syed Imran Ahmed Shah, MNA, Ms Mehnaz Akber Aziz, MNA, Mr. Raza Rabbani Khar, MNA, Mr. Zahid Akram Durrani, MNA, Mr. Muhammad Aslam Bhootani, MNA, the Secretaries Food Security and Research, Board of Investment, and senior officers from Ministry of Planning, Development and Reforms and Commerce and Textile.
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