The Road To Prosperity.

Transport, trade and industry play a vital role in the uplifting of a country. Throughout the history of mankind, these factors have been crucial for the development of societies. Transportation and road linkages improve mobility, community health, fuel efficiency, and commuters' productivity. Trade, on the other hand, provides opportunities to native people by improving productivity and accelerating growth rate and innovation. It also serves lower-income households well by offering services and products at a reasonable rate to them. Similarly, industry results in higher income for the local populace as it reduces cost of production and creates prospects of innovation. Thus, all these three factors are fundamental to the economy of particularly developing states like Pakistan.

China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is one such mega project which can change the destiny of Pakistan. As the biggest development plan of the region, it offers immense avenues of growth in socioeconomic sectors by enhancing international trade, building efficient transport systems and promoting industrialization. These benefits are not only limited to China and Pakistan but also extend to neighbouring countries like Afghanistan, Iran, Central Asian states, etc. thereby, increasing regional connectivity.

CPEC has the potential to boost socio-economic development greatly by emphasizing on poverty alleviation, education, medical treatment, water supply, vocational training. The framework of industrial cooperation, financial cooperation and agricultural cooperation incorporates the expansion of transport infrastructure, energy hub/flows, logistic hub/flows, trade and commerce within Pakistan. Moreover, tourism specifically coastal tourism and people-to-people contact would give rise to peace, harmonization and integration of civilizations. Diverse investment opportunities for overseas Pakistanis, multinational corporations and international stakeholders make China-Pakistan Economic Corridor a unique venture of sustainable development.

However, since its inception, CPEC faces malicious campaigns and propaganda. It has been regarded as a scheme to counter American influence in the region. The speculations that China has hidden malevolent intentions of dominance in designing and implementing the CPEC framework gave rise to doubts in the hearts of the Pakistani people. Most of these propagandas...