Seminar on “CPEC Opportunities and Challenges” at Sargodha Chamber of Commerce and Industry

A seminar on “CPEC opportunities and Challenges” was conducted in collaboration with Sargodha Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Pakistan Scientific and Technological Information Center (PASTIC) on 10^th April 2018 at Sargodha Chamber office. CoE-CPEC officials delivered a session on challenges and opportunities CPEC is offering. Dr. Liaqat Shah (Policy Head) and Mr. Ahsan Abbas (Senior Research Fellow) from Trade and Industry Cooperation participated from CoE CPEC.

Dr. Liaqat Shah mainly discussed about SMEs sector and Special Economic Zones (SEZs). He emphasized various success factors in SEZs and importance of SEZs, he also highlighted salient features of SEZ Act 2012 (Amended 2016) and Relocation Policy in prioritized SEZs under CPEC. He covered following topics during the session:-

• world class Industrial Parks having conducive doing business environment
• new jobs in industrial sector
• enhanced exports by engaging Global Value Chains (GVCs)
• Domestic Investment (DI) and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) from diaspora and global investors for expanding net industrial base (Chinese experience)
• relocation of the established export-oriented enterprises from abroad as per the Latent Comparative Advantages (LCAs)

Mr. Ahsan Abbas, briefed about the role of economic corridors in regional development. He talked about CPEC 1+ 4 portfolio namely, Energy Cooperation, Transport Infrastructure Cooperation, Gwadar Cooperation, Industrial Cooperation with recent developments in various CPEC related projects. He also highlighted 9 pillars of Long Term Plan which include Connectivity, Energy, Industries & Industrial Parks, Agricultural Development and Poverty Alleviation, Tourism, Cooperation in areas concerning People’s livelihood & Non-governmental Exchanges and Financial Cooperation. He focused on upcoming opportunities for businesses and challenges to CPEC as well as economy as whole.

Large gathering of business community attended the seminar and appreciated the worthy contribution by Centre of Excellence for CPEC.