Feb 02 , 2016
News
GB lawmakers hold meeting with Mushahid on CPEC
ISLAMABAD: A 19-member delegation of the Gilgit-Baltistan Assembly led by Speaker Fida Nashad met Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed, chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), at the Parliament House on Monday. The Gilgit-Baltistan Assembly members representing five political parties, both from ruling and opposition camps, had requested a meeting with Sayed to know more about the CPEC. In the two-hour meeting, including a lunch hosted by the senator for the visiting members, Sayed said the CPEC was a strategic national project spanning 15 years and it was above any person, political party, province or even the government. He said that all the provinces and the regions of Pakistan would benefit from the CPEC. Referring to the role of Gilgit-Baltistan in the Pakistan-China relations, Sayed told the visitors that their province was very much part of the CPEC and it was China’s gateway into Pakistan because it shared its border with the Chinese province of Xinjiang. He said that Gilgit-Baltistan was not just strategically important; it had a tremendous economic potential for the whole region. He said that hydropower resources of Gilgit-Baltistan as well as its infrastructure and tourism could change the face of the region, especially Pakistan. He said that Gilgit-Baltistan provided connectivity not only to China, but also to Central Asia through Tajikistan. The delegation expressed concern over the reports that Gilgit-Baltistan had not been linked to the CPEC. Sayed said that representatives of Gilgit-Baltistan would be invited to every meeting of the parliamentary committee on the CPEC. He said that a decision to this effect was made after he had a meeting with Gilgit-Baltistan Chief Minister Hafiz Hafeez-ur-Rehman. Sayed said it was decided at a high level consultation convened by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on January 15 that a national steering committee headed by the prime minister would address all concerns relating to the CPEC. The committee would have Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan and Gilgit-Baltistan chief ministers as its members.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk