On November 22, Consul General Zhao Shiren attended the monthly seminar of Pakistan Marketing Association and delivered a keynote speech on “CPEC, The Way Forward for Pakistan’s Prosperity”. The event was attended by more than 100 corporate managements and members including the MAP President Salam, Joint Chief Financial Officer Majid and Joint Secretary Ullah.

    Consul General Zhao briefly reviewed the development of the CPEC over the past 10 years, summarized the major achievements and challenges of the projects, and said that as the CPEC has entered a new stage of high-quality development, it is necessary to consolidate the early harvests and promote the transition from the “hard part”, such as infrastructure, to the “soft part”, like digital economy, expansion of cross-border trade, and more people-to-people exchanges. At the same time, both sides must deepen cooperation in industry, agriculture, mining and information technology, and continue to improve people’s livelihoods so as to bring more tangible benefits for the well-being of the people. As Pakistan has come into a new election season, it is hoped and believed that Pakistan will maintain political and social stability, eliminate terrorism and improve the business environment in a bid to create favorable conditions for the steady development of CPEC.

    During the Q&A session, Consul General Zhao interacted with the audience on promoting language and cultural exchanges, strengthening skills training for Pakistani workers, and the construction cycle and challenges of the CPEC projects.

    Founded in 1967, Pakistan Marketing Association (MAP) has around 1,000 individual members and 100 institutional members covering almost all multinational companies in Pakistan.