2nd phase of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC)

Pakistan and China on 31 July 2023 signed six key documents to help undertake the second phase of the USD 60 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects under a new model. This agreement will further cement the all-weather strategic relations between the “iron brothers" (China and Pakistan). Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng signed an agreement to mark 10 years of the CPEC. 

About CPEC

• The goal of the CPEC is both to transform Pakistan’s economy—by modernizing its road, rail, air, and energy transportation systems—and to connect the deep-sea Pakistani ports of Gwadar and Karachi to the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in China and beyond by overland routes. The project was launched on April 20, 2015.

• CPEC is opposed by India as it is being laid through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).

• The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor is located where the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road meet. It is, therefore, a major project of the "Belt and Road" initiative.

• The plan calls for the completion of all the projects by 2030.