ISLAMABAD: Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday lauded China’s investment in special economic zones (SEZs) in the country as part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) framework, the PM Office said in a statement.

Khan was speaking to President Xi Jinping by telephone.

CPEC is a central part of the Belt and Road Initiative, under which Beijing has pledged over $60 billion for infrastructure projects in Pakistan, much of it in the form of loans.

Khan “lauded the successful, timely and high-quality implementation of the CPEC projects, and welcomed Chinese investments in the CPEC Special Economic Zones,” the PM Office said in a statement.

Xi and Khan agreed to work to strengthen bilateral economic and commercial ties, including “full realization of the potential offered by the Phase-II of the China-Pakistan Free Trade Agreement, to overcome the economic headwinds,” the statement said.

Earlier this month PM Khan directed authorities to take “all possible” measures to provide land, electricity and gas connections as well as tax incentives to attract more Chinese companies to invest in special economic zones in the country.

He also said out of a total of 27 SEZs in Pakistan, work on five industrial zones in Sindh’s Dhabeji, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Rashakai, Bostan and Gwadar in Balochistan and Allama Iqbal Industrial City in Punjab was in “full swing.”

The two leaders also discussed the situation in Afghanistan and called on the international community to provide immediate humanitarian and economic assistance to the people of Afghanistan “to alleviate their suffering, prevent instability and flight of people, as well as continued engagement for rebuilding of the country,” the statement read.