CPEC-II and the Motion Plan supply Islamabad an opportunity to reverse its financial disaster, fast-track industrialisation
ISLAMABAD:
The world is present process speedy and multifaceted change, described by President Xi as once-in-a-century transformation. State relationships are shifting. Buddies have gotten foes, and foes have gotten associates.
Previous hegemonic alliances, corresponding to Nato, are below pressure. New partnerships are rising, together with the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). Nonetheless, some relationships have resisted this stress and remained steady. The China-Pakistan relationship is one such case.
In 2025, this relationship entered a brand new period with two main milestones: the launch of CPEC-II and the signing of the Motion Plan to foster a fair nearer China-Pakistan neighborhood with a shared future within the new period. CPEC-II has been launched with a renewed focus and goals to foster sustainable improvement, shared prosperity, and a steady and peaceable Pakistan.
It has a number of distinctive options that make it future-oriented and transformative. Whereas retaining parts of CPEC-I, the second section locations higher emphasis on inclusive industrial and socio-economic improvement. It’s carefully aligned with Pakistan’s 5 Es: Employment, Schooling, Power, Financial system, and Setting.
CPEC-II can also be designed to create synergies with 5 corridors envisioned by Pakistan: Development, Livelihoods, Innovation, Inexperienced, and Open and Regional Connectivity. These corridors purpose to understand the imaginative and prescient of a affluent and peaceable Pakistan. They search to speed up development by fast-tracking industrialisation, enhancing exports, and getting into new and future industries.
On the similar time, the framework focuses on creating respectable livelihood alternatives and selling future-ready expertise. It emphasises equal alternatives and job creation, significantly for youth, by way of investments in training and well being. Innovation and inexperienced development are additionally central pillars.
Regardless of its broad scope, the first focus of CPEC-II stays individuals’s well-being. A better evaluate means that synergy creation can be simpler, because the initiative is structured round these interconnected areas. Youth empowerment is a core precedence below CPEC-II. The initiative goals to make sure youth participation in future applied sciences corresponding to synthetic intelligence, quantum computing, and fintech. Future-oriented talent improvement is a key space of cooperation. This focus is important for making ready Pakistan’s workforce for the calls for of the fourth industrial revolution.
Local weather-smart and inexperienced agricultural improvement is one other main space of collaboration. Each nations plan to work collectively to provide high-quality agricultural inputs, strengthen analysis and improvement, and share technical experience. China has additionally dedicated to opening its meals and agriculture market to Pakistani exporters. This presents a priceless alternative, offered exporters meet China’s customs and meals security requirements. As well as, the inexperienced transition and innovation-driven development will obtain particular consideration. Inexperienced industries, climate-smart agriculture, and technology-based sectors are anticipated to be prioritised. All efforts below CPEC-II purpose to serve individuals by investing in human sources and creating respectable livelihoods. On this regard, Pakistan can profit from China’s people-centric governance mannequin.
The second milestone, the signing of the Motion Plan, additional reinforcing CPEC-II and associated initiatives. A better examination reveals two defining ideas: a neighborhood with a shared future and the brand new period. These visions information China’s modernisation course of and nationwide rejuvenation. Underneath these frameworks, China is transitioning away from large-scale infrastructure-led development, export dependence, and conventional industries. It’s transferring in direction of clever, AI-based industries, good funding, home consumption-led development, and inexperienced improvement. New power sources, innovation-driven development, and superior applied sciences are central to this transition.
The Motion Plan signifies that China desires Pakistan to be a part of this journey. China seeks to share its improvement expertise and lengthen entry to rising alternatives and markets. It additionally displays China’s readiness to help Pakistan’s entry into the fourth industrial revolution with confidence and dignity. This dedication highlights the depth of the ironclad brotherhood.
Collectively, CPEC-II and the Motion Plan supply Pakistan a possibility to reverse its financial disaster, fast-track industrialisation, pursue inexperienced transition and enhance individuals’s welfare. They’ll additionally assist deal with Pakistan’s long-standing state-owned enterprise (SOEs) issues. Nonetheless, realising these positive factors requires Pakistan to beat a number of home challenges.
First, Pakistan wants to make sure a genuinely business-friendly atmosphere. At the moment, the enterprise local weather stays discouraging. Inefficiencies in electrical energy, fuel provide, and licensing persist. Export and import procedures stay time-consuming. Weak human useful resource capability in public establishments and rent-seeking behaviour additional undermine investor confidence. Regardless of repeated claims, significant enchancment stays restricted. Particular initiatives such because the Particular Funding Facilitation Council have been created to deal with these points. Nonetheless, they haven’t delivered the anticipated outcomes. Though SIFC is a strong physique with high-level illustration, structural weaknesses and a scarcity of execs have restricted its effectiveness.
To succeed, SIFC should be granted clear decision-making and implementation authority. Different establishments ought to be required to comply with its directives, {and professional} experience should be inducted.
Second, Pakistan wants to deal with political instability and terrorism. Each deter funding and create uncertainty. Lately, foreign-funded teams have focused Chinese language buyers and companies. These assaults purpose to disrupt funding and pressure Pakistan-China relations. Guaranteeing political stability and offering foolproof safety to Chinese language nationals is important.
Third, Pakistan can request China to collectively launch an SOEs-to-SOEs hall. China has developed efficient fashions for managing SOEs on advantage and competitiveness. Such cooperation might assist Pakistan reform and revive its personal SOEs. Past these challenges, Pakistan mustn’t permit any nation to make use of the China-Pakistan relationship as a bargaining chip. Prior to now, america requested Pakistan to disengage from CPEC. As bilateral ties evolve, comparable pressures might re-emerge. Pakistan should subsequently draw clear traces on acceptable engagement. China-Pakistan relationship is resistant to circumstances and reliable.
Against this, Pakistan’s relationship with the US has traditionally been shaky and time-bound. After attaining its goals, the US has typically disengaged, as seen after the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan and throughout the conflict on terror. Pakistan later confronted sanctions and unfavorable propaganda. Pakistan mustn’t waste time balancing these two relationships. Selections should be primarily based on advantage and historic expertise. In conclusion, 2026 presents with a major alternative to learn from CPEC-II and the Motion Plan. These initiatives can assist revive the economic system, modernise agriculture, lay the muse for innovation-led development, and kick-start the fourth industrial revolution.
THE WRITER IS A POLITICAL ECONOMIST AND VISITING RESEARCH FELLOW AT HEBEI UNIVERSITY, CHINA
