‘Electricity shortage to be thing of the past in Pakistan’

BEIJING: Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Thursday that electricity shortage would be a thing of past in Pakistan after the completion of more than a dozen power stations being built under Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) to address power shortage in the brotherly country.

“China is building over a dozen power stations for Pakistan. Largest of which is supplying electricity to the tens of millions of Pakistanis. With the completion of all of them, electricity shortage will be a thing of past in Pakistan,” he said this while addressing a press conference on the sidelines of the First Session of the 13th National People’s Congress (CPC), the country’s national legislature, here.

The foreign minister said that the Belt and Road Initiative is a global public good and follows international rules.

The initiative’s projects must be of high standards, high quality as well as results-oriented and economically viable that benefit not only China but the world, he added.

The initiative is a platform for international cooperation thus follows market principles, Wang said, responding to questions that some countries seem to be harboring doubts over the initiative’s transparency and its conformity to international rules.

“It’s a transparent initiative launched by China. It follows the golden rules of extensive consultation, joint contribution, and shared benefits,” Wang said, adding that the initiative aims to be equal-footed, inclusive and universally beneficial.

“The planning and implementation of the initiative’s projects have been discussed by the participants in the open. No country is dominating the process. All parties have an equal say. There is no backroom deal. Everything is transparent. There is no winner takes all. Every project delivers win-win results,” he said.

A large number of projects carried out under the initiative are “adding needed momentum to the economic and social development of the host countries,” Wang said.

Responding to a question four international events including the Boao Forum for Asia, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Qingdao summit, the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation and the first China International Import Expo will be hosted by China this year.

About forthcoming summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) to be held in the Chinese city of Qingdao in June this year, he said, the SCO was born in China, and the country looks forward to working with other SCO members to make the organization more cohesive, effective and influential.—APP