Despite the good wishes of the governments of China and Pakistan, the operationalization of CPEC Phase 2.0 has not yet achieved any substantial progress. Even high-profile statements, meetings and joint declarations have not enabled it to flourish in the country.

Undoubtedly, CPEC Phase 2.0 has many short- and long-term socio-economic benefits for Pakistan, but unfortunately, due to many national, regional and international complex and complicated reasons and conflicting realities, it has not been fully pursued or implemented. Mainly, emerging Pak–US ties, the rapidly changing geopolitical landscape in the Middle East and the surge in terrorism have badly affected the pace and productivity of CPEC Phase 2.0 in the country.

New hope has emerged in the shape of the formation of Pakistan’s Special Economic Zones (SEZs) under the flagship of CPEC Phase 2.0. Fortunately, these SEZs have expanded from seven in 2019 to 44 by 2025, following the notification of 37 new zones through coordinated efforts led by the Board of Investment, which should be highly commended. Hopefully, the increase in SEZs will be a value addition in achieving the strategic goal of quality development and qualitative industrialization.

In a most recent meeting, the Project Management Unit of the CPEC Industrial Cooperation Development Project (PMU CPEC–ICDP) reviewed progress on industrial cooperation and SEZ development under Phase II of the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor.

According to news........

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