China’s belt and road projects will help lift Pakistan from poverty, says Imran Khan
- Despite questions around Pakistan’s deals with China, its PM says CPEC and Gwadar port are viewed as ‘a great opportunity’
- Khan told Chinese President Xi Jinping that Islamabad would support China at any time as its ‘all-weather friend’
Khan spoke to Li Shimo, a venture capitalist and director of the advisory committee of the China Institute at Fudan University, in an interview published by Chinese news website Guancha on Wednesday.
“I do not understand why there is this suspicion about CPEC [China-Pakistan Economic Corridor] and the Gwadar port … what China achieved is really [why] we look at China as a role model, because never has a nation lifted so many people out of poverty as did China,” Khan said.
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“This is really my main concern: how do I lift people out of poverty, how do we create wealth in our country? We see CPEC and Gwadar as a great opportunity for our geoeconomics, I think this is not exclusive between Pakistan and China. We invite any other country to join and invest in CPEC projects,” Khan said, referring to his policy on strengthening trade and investment with regional countries.
“We want to lift our poverty using the example of China,” he said.