Pakistan and China on Thursday announced major steps to support cooperation under the ambit of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), including on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
"The two sides will work together to deepen and substantiate China's eight major steps to support high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, and forge an 'upgraded version' of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) by jointly building a growth corridor, a livelihood-enhancing corridor, an innovation corridor, a green corridor and an open corridor, by aligning them with Pakistan's development framework and priorities," the two neighboring sovereign states said in a joint statement following the fifth round of China-Pakistan Foreign Ministers' Strategic Dialogue co-chaired by China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his Pakistani counterpart Mohammad Ishaq Dar.
Besides, China and Pakistan gave a nod to increase the pace of construction at key connectivity project sites like the Gwadar Port. Additionally, the two countries agreed to soon finalize the alignment of Phase II of the Karakoram Highway, which is being realigned at present.
The two Asian nations also emphasized that they will strengthen their counter-terrorism cooperation amid a wave of violent attacks on Chinese nationals working on various projects associated with the CPEC in Pakistan.
In March, a convoy of vehicles carrying workers executing the Dasu Hydropower Project in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan came under a terrorist attack, which left five Chinese nationals dead.
Since then, Beijing and Islamabad have been making concerted efforts to wipe out terrorism from Pakistan.
The new strategy that is being implemented by both nations in this regard is "a zero-tolerance attitude" towards terrorism in all its manifestations.