ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb said on Sunday that the second phase of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project will attract more Chinese investment and companies, as Islamabad eyes greater collaboration with Beijing to bolster its economy. 

CPEC is a multi-billion-dollar project that connects China and Pakistan through a network of highways, railways and pipelines. In December 2024, Pakistan announced that both countries would work on the CPEC project with a renewed focus. 

The government has said that the second phase of the CPEC project would be known as “CPEC 2.0” and would involve deeper collaboration, advanced technological transfer and transformative socio-economic projects.

“Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb stressed the importance of CPEC 2.0,” Pakistan’s finance ministry said while speaking to Hong Kong’s TVB News. 

“The second phase of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor will attract more Chinese companies and investment,” the finance minister said. 

Aurangzeb, who this week attended the Asian Financial Forum in Hong Kong, invited the Asian country to send delegations to explore trade and financial opportunities in Pakistan.

“Hong Kong can be a suitable location for joint ventures between Chinese and Pakistani companies,” the finance minister was quoted as saying. 

Pakistan’s foreign ministry said last week that the second phase of the project would focus on industrialization and Special Economic Zones (SEZs) as well as on clean energy, agriculture and livelihood projects. 

However, the project has been hit by Islamabad struggling to keep up financial obligations as well as attacks on Chinese targets by militants, especially in the country’s southwestern province.