Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan Nong Rong has said the Pakistani media has played an impressive role in developing a better understand of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CEPC). 

As an important pilot project of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and a demonstration of the China-Pakistan cooperation, he said, CPEC plays a significant role in promotion of an all-weather strategic partnership between the two countries and high-quality growth of the Belt and Road Initiative. 

He was speaking at the 6th China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) Media Forum that was held here on Monday. The forum was jointly organised by the Pakistan-China Institute (PCI) and China Economic Net (CEN) in cooperation with the Embassy of People's Republic of China in Pakistan. 

Due to COVID-19, this year’s forum was held virtually and was themed “Post-epidemic China-Pakistan Media Cooperation”. The forum conducted in-depth exchanges and discussions on topics including opportunities for digital media, media as an engine for high-quality development of CPEC and China-Pakistan media cooperation. It was moderated by Zoon Ahmed Khan, anchor of China Economic Net. Chairman of Senate Sadiq Sanjrani was the chief guest. The forum was addressed by the railways minister and deputy chairman of the Planning Commission. 

Zheng Qingdong, president and editor-in-chief of Economic Daily, and Mustafa Hyder Sayed, executive director of the Pakistan-China Institute, gave welcome addresses. 

The Chinese ambassador said that high level and quality participation in the CPEC media forum was the testimony to the fact that CPEC had been highly valued in Pakistan. Since its inception in 2015, he said, CPEC Media Forum had brought together the governments, business communities, media, think tanks and other sectors of China and Pakistan to focus on the construction of CPEC. 

Commenting on a recently held meeting of the Joint Working Group on international coordination on CPEC, he said that China would strengthen coordination with academia and think-tanks through CPEC. 

Since its launch, Pakistan has achieved fruitful results of CPEC cooperation. After successful completion of CPEC Phase 1, which focused on energy and infrastructure, the second phase would focus on industrial cooperation, agriculture, science, technology and improving livelihood of people. Moreover, he highlighted the prospects of CPFTA-II and said that it would resolve the issue of trade imbalance between Pakistan and China.