Abdul Razak Dawood to clarify statements on CPEC

Prime Minister Imran Khan’s advisor on commerce, textiles, industries and investment, Abdul Razak Dawood will issue a clarification on statements attributed to him regarding the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) published by the Financial Times later today.

“Some parts of my interview on CPEC was taken out of context,” Dawood said.

The Financial Times report stated Pakistan was mulling over a review of the CPEC agreement with China, citing Islamabad’s unease with what it claims was unjust benefit being enjoyed by Beijing-owned companies.

According to the report, Dawood was of the view that for the time being, all CPEC-related must be halted for a year.

“The previous government did a bad job negotiating with China on CPEC — they didn’t do their homework correctly and didn’t negotiate correctly so they gave away a lot,” Dawood noted, as per the FT.

“I think we should put everything on hold for a year so we can get our act together. Perhaps we can stretch CPEC out over another five years or so,” he added.