ISLAMABAD – Prime Minister Imran Khan’s recently appointed Adviser Razzak Dawood has expressed that he was misquoted in an interview over the terms of deal regarding the China Pakistan Economic Corridor.
In a clarification issued Monday, the adviser expressed that he would soon issue a detailed response over his interview carried by the Financial Times, in which the adviser was quoted as saying that the government would review the multi-billion dollars corridor.
“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,” Abdul Razak Dawood was quoted by the paper.
The official responsible for commerce, textiles, industry and investment was mentioned as having said that the ‘Chinese companies received tax breaks, many breaks and have an undue advantage in Pakistan; this is one of the things we’re looking at because it’s not fair that Pakistan companies should be disadvantaged,’.
Dawood was quoted as saying that everything should be put on hold for a year so Pakistan can get its act together.
“Perhaps we can stretch CPEC out over another five years or so.” Dawood was quoted by the English-language international daily.
The statement also irked Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz president, Shehbaz Sharif who fired a tweet on Monday that the PTI government was trying to undermine Pakistan-China strategic partnership.
https://twitter.com/CMShehbaz/status/1039096625183043584
However, Dawood has asserted that he would soon clarify the whole matter.
