BRI Forum
ISLAMABAD: Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar is leaving for China today on a four-day visit to attend the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) Forum.
The BRI Forum is starting from Oct 17 and more than 130 countries are participating in this mega event.
During this trip, PM Kakar is set to take part in the third Belt and Road Forum, scheduled to take place in Beijing on October 17 and 18.
As part of this visit, the caretaker prime minister will engage in meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping, as well as with various investors and business leaders.
It’s worth noting that Caretaker Federal Minister of Commerce Gohar Ijaz has already reached China to participate in the Belt and Road Forum.
The BRI Forum is being seen as a mega event in comparison with the recent G20 meeting in India in which neither Russian nor Chinese Presidents participated.
Meanwhile, China announced last week that its BRI infrastructure project has generated an impressive two trillion dollars in contracts worldwide. It is equivalent to some of the world’s largest economies.
The China’s State Council released a white paper on last Tuesday. It revealed that countries participating in the initiative owe more than $300 billion to the Export-Import Bank of China (Eximbank). While some experts believe this figure is likely understated, it highlights the substantial debts incurred as part of this global infrastructure initiative.
This month marks the 10th anniversary of China’s Belt and Road Initiative, a project that has seen Beijing invest a trillion dollars in projects worldwide, making it a defining geopolitical endeavor for President Xi Jinping.
Critics have raised concerns that China may be luring lower-income countries into debt traps by offering massive, unsustainable loans.
According to the announcement, the total value of signed construction contracts with BRI partners now stands at two trillion dollars, roughly equivalent to the economies of Russia or Canada.
