Several amendments, reform, and frame corresponding policies are needed for Pakistan to advance industrial cooperation, particularly construction of industrial parks to get benefit from CPEC.
Liu Zongyi, a senior fellow of Shanghai Institutes for International Studies wrote in an article in Global Times that more coordination across party lines and more governmental efficiency is needed.
He further elaborated that Pakistan’s political system is very complexed and does not allow any amendments and law changes in its system.
The changes can only be brought by political negotiation. There is a dire need for Pakistan and its administration to realize that there should be laws for industrial growth.
The industrial revolution moves in a value chain. Third Industrial Revolution moves from inter-industry specialization to intra-industry and intra-product specialization that has encouraged the industrial growth.
In the construction of CPEC, the agricultural-industrial parks should be given high priority. Agricultural cooperation is fundamental for industrial coordination.
For Pakistan, apart from cooperation in processing and manufacturing sectors industrial cooperation weighs more.
Agriculture can deliver economic benefits and alleviate poverty because agriculture is a pillar industry for Pakistan.
The key areas of cooperation including textiles, chemicals, medicine, steel, home appliances, engineering equipment, construction materials, manufacturing, agriculture, gardening, ICT, finance, and logistics were covered in recently announced CPEC as a long-term plan.
The industrial cooperation and building of industrial parks will face many obstacles due to political reasons. The conflict between federal and local authorities, clashes of interests between different provinces and partisan internal strife have affected the construction of the CPEC said, Liu.
Capitalization on CPEC by some political parties and local interest groups will help to achieve their political goals by LTP and bilateral industrial cooperation.