This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), as well as the 10th year of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a flagship project of the BRI launched in 2013.

At this landmark moment, China and Pakistan are both happy to review the road already taken in terms of the construction of the corridor over the past decade, and more importantly, to focus on the future and look forward to the key aspects of the second phase of the corridor construction.

The Gwadar Port, a leading project of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and an important node for regional connectivity, in Pakistan's southwest Balochistan Province.

Successful first-phase construction of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor

The construction of the first phase of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor has progressed smoothly, making tangible contributions to the socioeconomic development of Pakistan. This success is most notably manifested in the following two aspects.

(1) Bottleneck problem that has long constrained Pakistan's economic and social development basically resolved

At the beginning of the construction of the corridor, China and Pakistan decided to undertake construction of transportation and energy infrastructure with a view to helping Pakistan alleviate the "bottleneck" which was proving a serious obstacle to its economic development. As energy and electricity issues were the most urgent issues needing to be addressed in Pakistan's economic development, the first-phase corridor construction included 22 priority projects, of which 11 were energy projects.