ISLAMABAD: Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan Yao Jing has said that the Coronavirus catastrophe would not stop the economic cooperation between China and Pakistan.

Addressing a seminar in Islamabad, he said, “We are thankful to the Pakistani government and people for showing solidarity in our difficult time which provides us strength and more confidence.”

The Chinese envoy said after six years of successful implementation of the China Pakistan Economic Cooperation (CPEC) project under the umbrella of Belt and Road Initiative, it had now established that the CPEC and other corridors under Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) were projects of international cooperation, where 126 countries joined those projects.

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“The Belt and Road Initiative has provided credible and tangible benefits to the beneficiary’s countries and CPEC is one of its successful examples,” he said.

Yao Jing said he was looking CPEC in the context of historic China and Pakistan relations, where CPEC had provided new focus and new opportunities on economic front.

On Feb 6, Chairman of the CPEC General Authority (Retd) Asim Saleem Bajwa had said the second phase of China’s Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) included multi-sector projects that would generate opportunities for mass employment in the region.

“Time to gear up for Phase-2 which is envisioned to generate mass employment through more projects of mass industrialization, agriculture and socioeconomic uplift,” he had said in a tweet.

The CPEC chairman had said he had taken briefings from different stakeholders after taking the charge and came to know that the CPEC had acceptability across the board. He had said the first phase of the CPEC had already brought relief in the energy and infrastructure sector while the second phase would help expand industrialization and other socio-economic sectors.