CPEC Leading BRI’s High-Quality Development: Prof Cheng

BEIJING, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 25th Jun, 2026) As the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) enters its second decade and pivots towards high-quality, technology-led and green development, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) — the flagship project under the Belt and Road Initiative — has kept pace with the times and entered its CPEC 2.0 upgrading stage.

It is shifting focus from conventional infrastructure construction to all-round cooperation spanning the digital economy, green industries, advanced manufacturing and livelihood enhancement, blazing a trail for the comprehensive upgrading of BRI projects across the globe.

This was stated by Prof Cheng Xizhong, Senior Research Fellow at the Charhar Institute, a non-governmental Chinese think-tank on diplomacy and international studies based in Beijing.

He said, over the past decade, CPEC has addressed Pakistan’s key developmental bottlenecks through well-established hard infrastructure projects, including Gwadar Port, cross-border motorways and hydropower schemes. This robust foundation for physical connectivity now provides strong backing for its forward-looking iterative transformation. Aligned with global industrial shifts and bilateral developmental needs, CPEC has outlined three refreshed directions for future advancement.

Firstly, it will accelerate digital and intelligent upgrading. Built on the existing stable energy and transport networks, China and Pakistan will jointly develop cross-border data hubs, intelligent logistics systems and digital customs clearance platforms. Drawing on China’s mature digital technologies and Pakistan’s demographic dividend of a young workforce, the two nations will advance artificial intelligence applications in port operations, precision agriculture and cross-border trade, bridging the digital divide across the whole region.

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Secondly, both countries will deepen green, high-value industrial cooperation. In response to the global drive for carbon neutrality, CPEC will expand collaborative programmes in renewable energy equipment manufacturing, new energy vehicle assembly and semiconductor packaging. The upgraded corridor will optimize regional industrial and supply chains, facilitate export-oriented industrial upgrading in Pakistan, and move beyond low-end infrastructure-focused cooperation.

Thirdly, CPEC will prioritize people-centered development and open regional cooperation. Centered on the development of five new corridors focusing on growth, innovation, green development, livelihoods and openness, CPEC will promote harmonized cross-border trade regulations and inclusive regional growth. Although the project still faces constraints including talent deficits and inconsistent regulatory frameworks, sound bilateral coordination mechanisms are well placed to overcome such obstacles effectively.

Prof Cheng said that responsive to global economic and technological evolutions, the upgraded CPEC will deliver enduring impetus for the high-quality development of the Belt and Road Initiative. It will also bring mutually beneficial, eco-friendly and smart shared prosperity to China, Pakistan and the broader region.

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