On February 21, Ambassador Yao Jing attended the Seminar on CPEC Development Challenges and Way Forward for an Inclusive Employment Strategy organized by the Center of Excellence China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. Present at the Seminar were Asad Zaman, Chancellor of the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, Hassan Daud Butt, CPEC coordinator of Ministry of Planning Development and Reform, Dr. Abdul Jalil, Executive Director of CE-CPEC and others.

In his speech, Yao said that Pakistan has rich human resources and a young population structure. Uplifting vocational skills will help improve the quality of Pakistan’s labor force and better promote Pakistan’s national construction and development. China appreciates the importance paid by the new government of Pakistan to the development of people’s livelihood and human resources. He stated that over the past five years, China has conducted some vocational training cooperation with Pakistan under the framework of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and accumulated some experience. Chinese enterprises engaged in CPEC have also made active efforts in this regard. At present, CPEC has entered a new stage of enrichment and expansion, and China will reinforce collaboration with Pakistan in industrial cooperation, as well as social and livelihood fields. China is about to send an expert group on social and people’s livelihood to Pakistan to identify key areas of cooperation, including vocational and technical training. He called on the two sides to strengthen vocational and technical training in various manners to better serve the CPEC and the development of Pakistan.

The attendants said that the construction of CPEC has created a large number of jobs for Pakistan in the past five year. Pakistan deeply appreciates China’s advanced technology and scholarships offered to Pakistan for its vocational training. With the advancement of CPEC cooperation and increased investment from Saudi Arabia and other countries, Pakistan with rich human resources, is eager to strengthen vocational and technical training so as to provide more qualified labor force for international investors. They hope that China will intensify its cooperation in vocational and technical training to Pakistani instructors and students, and help the country to raise the skill level of its workforce.