Coronavirus pandemic will not affect CPEC: Pakistan

Pakistan on Thursday said that coronavirus pandemic would not impact USD 60 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and its projects would be completed on time.

Foreign Office spokesperson Aisha Farooqui was asked at her weekly briefing about the impact of the pandemic on the CPEC. China has committed to invest over USD 60 billion in Pakistan as part of the CPEC under which it planned to build a number of special economic zones.

She said CPEC comprised long-term projects whose completion, in many cases, was spread over many years. “We are quite confident that we will be able to complete the CPEC projects in time and, going forward, the short-term impact of coronavirus will be counterbalanced by effective and swift mobilisation of resources for timely completion of CPEC,” she said.

To a question that about 10,000 Chinese workers were to come back from China after the Chinese New Year, she said the Chinese government was following a “double-quarantine” policy for the officials of Chinese companies working on CPEC projects in Pakistan.

“Those officials travelling to Pakistan spend fourteen days in quarantine in China before travelling to Pakistan and after reaching Pakistan, they remain in quarantine for fourteen more days,” she said and added that established medical procedures were also followed during the process.

CPEC connecting China's Xinjiang with Pakistan's Gwadar port is regarded as the flagship project of the multi-billion dollar Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) which is aimed at furthering China's global influence with infrastructure projects funded by Chinese investments all over the world.

India has objected to the CPEC as it is being laid through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

Farooqi said China had extended significant relief assistance to Pakistan to fight the COVID-19 pandemic and on March 28, a special aircraft from China brought relief assistance to Pakistan including 12,000 test kits, 300,000 masks and 10,000 protective suits.

In addition to this, an eight-member medical expert team also arrived in Pakistan from China. “Moreover, the Chinese government has also provided support worth USD 4 million for a separate hospital for Coronavirus patients,” she said. The spokesperson said that private organisations in China such as the Alibaba Foundation and Jack Ma foundation donated 50,000 test kits and 50 million face masks.

She said another special flight reached Islamabad on April 2 from Beijing, and brought in relief assistance worth USD 3 million from various Chinese organisations, that included PPE, ventilators, face masks and essential testing kits. Farooqui said in addition to the assistance received from China, private donors in Singapore, Japan, and UAE have also sent relief assistance.

She said the US has identified Pakistan as a priority country for its international assistance efforts to deal with the COVID-19 challenges and earmarked USD 1 million for capacity building of health sector staff of Pakistan as well as for better identification and investigation of COVID-19 cases.

“Another USD 1 million from existing funds of USAID have been redirected to help Pakistan fight against COVID-19 pandemic,” she said.

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