With Chinese President Xi Jinping’s approaching Pakistan, a three-day conference in the picturesque Chinese island of Hainan decided to launch a new Joint Pakistan-China Think Tank dedicated solely to research and development of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.

According to a press statement issued by the Islamabad office of Pakistan China Institute, the newly-formed think tank “Research and Development International (RANDI)”, will have two co-chairpersons; Madame Zhao Baige, former minister and currently member of parliament and vice chairperson of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National People’s Congress, and Senator Mushahid Hussain.

“The new think tank is the first joint initiative of China and Pakistan which will be dedicated to research on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor,” said Senator Mushahid. It would be emphasising in providing an ‘Information Corridor’ to promote perspectives, data and information for policy-makers, students, specialists, scholars and companies of both countries.

The Information Corridor was organised by China’s most prestigious university, Tsinghua University, under the supervision of Professor Li Xiguang, who is also director of the Centre of Pakistan Studies, who had also addressed at the conference.

The Pakistan secretariat of the new joint think tank, RANDI, would be located at the Pakistan-China Institute in Islamabad, while its China secretariat would be co-hosted by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) and the China Institute of Reform & Development (CIRD), two top Chinese think tanks.

A work plan for 2015 was also approved at the conference, which was attended by former Finance Minister Senator Saleem Mandviwala, Pakistan Red Crescent Society Chairman Dr Saeed Elahi, with representatives of the Board of Investment energy, economic experts and Gawadar Development Authority.