ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has highlighted the Digital Silk Road as the next major phase of the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) while proposing new technology partnerships with Beijing, including joint ventures in 5G/6G, hardware manufacturing and ICT components, a statement from the Ministry of IT said on Monday. 

Launched in 2015, CPEC is a multibillion-dollar connectivity program linking western China to the Arabian Sea. The initiative has historically focused on energy projects, highways, power plants and the Gwadar port, with committed investments estimated at around $60 billion. As the two countries enter CPEC’s second phase, cooperation is expanding beyond physical infrastructure into technology, digital governance, manufacturing and skills development.

The Digital Silk Road — Beijing’s framework for cross-border connectivity in fiber, cloud services, data routing, smart manufacturing and emerging technologies — is increasingly positioned as the backbone of CPEC’s next stage. Pakistan says aligning with this digital track will help modernize local industry, deepen tech supply-chain integration with China and support its ambition to become a regional digital transit and services hub.

“[Pakistan IT Minister] Shaza Fatima Khawaja proposed joint ventures in 5G/6G, hardware manufacturing, and ICT components,” a statement from the IT ministry said after she met with Zhang Yunmeng, Vice Minister of China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), on the sidelines of the World Telecommunication Development Conference.

The ministry added that Pakistan had framed these proposals within its wider CPEC technology agenda:

“Khawaja highlighted the Pakistan–China Digital Silk Road as the next important phase of CPEC.”

As part of its digital cooperation agenda, Pakistan said it had asked China to partner on overcoming structural barriers that limit the ability of developing countries to enter global technology supply chains. According to the statement, Islamabad stressed the need for a joint initiative to help remove the “Systemic Diversity Barrier” in global tech sourcing, alongside cooperation in cybersecurity, AI and cloud computing through a bilateral talent exchange program. 

The ministry said the minister also proposed industrial digital upgrading under China’s “Intelligent Manufacturing” model to modernize local production and align Pakistan’s factories with emerging technologies.

Both sides discussed technical cooperation to make Pakistan a regional data transit hub through Pakistan–China fiber, and agreed to deepen their partnership in digital cooperation, the statement concluded.