TRIANGLE OF PROGRESS - CHINA PAKISTAN ECONOMIC CORRIDOR, SHIP RECYCLING & STEEL INDUSTRY

The economic promise of the 60s has faded away in the last many decades with frequent boom and bust cycles indicative of poor planning and ill-advised policy making. Political instability, terrorism within and from across the borders and lack of national consensus has resulted in a dwindling economy. What has persevered is Pakistan’s relationship with China which has only grown despite the occasional hiccups. CPEC, a harbinger of hope for Pakistan’s economy was launched with the help of Chinese in 2015, has only been able to garner limited success in light of global opposition and more importantly due political instability and resistant bureaucratic processes. But undoubtedly, CPEC has the potential to uplift two critical yet inter-dependent segments of Pakistan’s economy i.e. Ship recycling and steel industry. This study investigates how other states such as Bangladesh in the case of Ship Recycling and South Korea in Steel sector have been able to accrue maximum benefits while dilating upon the factors leading to the decline of these sectors through analysis of various studies and corelating them with available data. The paper recommends a way forward for the policy makers on the role of Special Economic Zones (SEZs) under CPEC as a catalyst to forge new economic pathways within Ship Recycling and Steel sector.