Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), a province in Pakistan that borders Afghanistan, was considered to be remote and isolated due to its disadvantageous geographical location. The lack of electricity and investment hinders local development.

However, after the inception of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), KP is now eying opportunities for economic growth and modernization as China and Pakistan work together to build an economic corridor between them.

To attract foreign investment, a delegation of officials from the province's public and private sectors paid a visit to Beijing in mid-April. During that period, representatives from around 400 Chinese companies participated in a road show displaying KP's economic potential. A total of 86 projects from 13 sectors were open to tender for Chinese companies during the two-day occasion.

"This is a very important event for the province to promote economic cooperation with China," Pervez Khattak, Chief Minister of KP Province said at the road show.

The CPEC is a 3,000-km long route that connects the city of Kashgar in China's northwest Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region to the port of Gwadar in Pakistan's southwest Balochistan Province. Along the route, the two countries are building networks of roads, railways, infrastructure and industrial parks, with total investment of $62 billion. The CPEC is planned to be completed by 2030.

Khattak said that his visit would help lay a solid foundation for a durable relationship between the two countries. He also highlighted the incentives being provided to investors and underscored the improved security situation in the country. Khattak expects more Chinese companies to tap into the province's potential and promote local development.

During the delegation's visit to Beijing, 11 memorandums of understanding (MoUs) in different sectors were signed between Chinese enterprises and the government of KP Province. These MoUs also signal the further development of the consensus reached on cooperation projects during the Sixth China-Pakistan Joint Coordination Committee Meeting which was held at the end of December 2016.

Beyond expectation

Zhou Rong and Chen Xiaochen are researchers from the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University of China. They made a field survey on the progress of the CPEC in Pakistan and released their survey report in China Business News on April 25.

After visiting CPEC projects, the researchers concluded that "CPEC's construction has gone beyond expectations. The two sides have achieved remarkable progress in the energy, transport infrastructure and industrial sectors—as well as the Gwadar Port."

The power plants to be built under the framework of the CPEC will have the capacity to produce over 10 million kilowatts. At present, half of these power projects are under construction. With such progress, Pakistan is expected to meet its domestic power demand by 2018, according to the report.

The survey claims that power shortage has hampered Pakistan's development for decades. If this problem is solved, Pakistan's economy will improve significantly. Moreover, the security situation in Pakistan has also shown progress.

Few signs of major unrest have surfaced in Pakistan over the past four years. After a number of counterterrorism actions launched by the Pakistani Government, terror attacks and casualties have been reducing year on year. In 2016, terror attacks decreased 75 percent compared with 2013.

Pakistani Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif launched the National Action Plan in 2015 to crack down on terrorism and to supplement the anti-terrorist offensive in northwest Pakistan. The plan received great support across the country and achieved definite results.

Recently, attacks by Balochistan separatists have also reduced dramatically. The survey claims that some separatist groups have returned to mainstream society as a result of the improved economy.

Pakistan's annual economic growth rate has been above 4 percent in the last four years, marking the country's fastest growth period in the last 10 years. Meanwhile, its inflation rate has continued to drop to around 3-4 percent, the lowest in the past decade. The rapid growth of Pakistan's economy should be partly attributed to the CPEC, says the survey.

Far-reaching effects

Since its implementation in April 2015, the construction of the CPEC has been pushed forward steadily.

"So far, 18 early harvest projects have either been fulfilled or are under construction. Investment has reached $18.5 billion," Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan Sun Weidong said in a recent interview with People's Daily.

"The CPEC has achieved the most progress among all cooperation projects under the Belt and Road Initiative. This should be mostly attributed to the solid foundation of China-Pakistan relations. Furthermore, the CPEC is planned reasonably and comprehensively," Sun said.

With the CPEC, Pakistan is able to take advantage of its geographic location, serving as a trade hub in the South Asia region, Sun said.

Pakistan harbors great markets and human resource potential, as Pakistan has a population of 200 million and around 65 percent of the population is below the age of 35, said Sun.

As for the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation which is set to be held in Beijing in May, Pakistani Prime Minister Sharif was one of the first foreign state leaders to confirm attendance at the forum.

"The CPEC has become a national development consensus of Pakistan and all different political parties and groups in the country have agreed on it unanimously," said Sun.

"More importantly, the CPEC has a regional effect that is beyond the scope of bilateral cooperation."

The CPEC's progress has caught the attention of other countries interested in participating in the Belt and Road Initiative, Sun added.

Wang Yiwei, a professor with the School of International Studies at Renmin University of China, told Xinhuanet that the CPEC has a far-reaching effect on regional development.

"The CPEC will encourage more countries to take China's development pattern as the reference for their own national development," Wang said. "The CPEC will lead another wave of industrial transfer to South Asia, which will help economic growth in South Asian countries."

"The CPEC will offer a good example for the world to seek better global governance. In particular, it will help solve transnational problems of poverty, violence and terrorism which have long bothered Pakistan and Afghanistan," Wang said.

Wang believes that with the CPEC and other initiatives between China and South Asian nations underway, there will be a broad framework for regional cooperation in the future. He added that South Asia will benefit from this regional cooperation in terms of economic development, security and regional governance.

Copyedited by Bryan Michael Galvan

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