Pakistan, China to soon agree on a trade-in-services agreement, says Chinese scholar

The government of Pakistan would soon agree on a trade-in-services agreement with China to curb costs for Pakistani firms interested in integrating with the Chinese services sector, said renowned Chinese scholar Prof. Zhou Rong.

Rong in his article for the China Economic Net (CEN) informed that work on services sector-focused economic zones under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) would be established.

Rong was of the view that IT parks can help promote IT-enabled businesses, which are much desired by the Chinese companies. The scholar wrote that for Pakistan to boost its productivity in the services sector, it is important to improve its ranking in information and communication technology (ICT) adoption and logistics indicators, which were closely observed by foreign investors.

He added that Pakistan should look into women-led businesses in the post-Covid-19 scenario including moving towards online ways of doing business, and overcome constraints to mobility and attracting investors during the pandemic.

“The federal government should try to streamline the regulatory environment whereas e-commerce and cluster-based services sector development is also going to be promoted in the country,” Rong opined.

He said the return of stability to the financial health of global firms is a must to attract new foreign investment in Pakistan. To achieve this Pakistani government has set a deadline of 2022 to put in place the whole system which will be implemented at a cost of US67 million.