Visit to China aimed at enhancing trade, attracting FDI: PM Shehbaz

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Monday that the government’s visit to China is aimed at enhancing trade with the neighbouring nation and creating an enabling environment to attract investment from it.

Speaking at the Pakistan-China Business and Investment Forum in Islamabad, he said the Pakistani delegation was set to leave for Beijing on Tuesday.

“We look forward to meeting Chinese leadership including President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang to enhance business, strategic and cultural relations between two countries,” he stressed.

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He appreciated China for being one of the largest donors for flood aid following devastating flooding in Pakistan.

“The government of China established an air bridge between Beijing and Islamabad and sent essential supplies,” PM Shehbaz underlined.

Speaking about the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), the PM termed it “a game-changer in building business relations between the two countries.”

So far, billions of dollars of investment under the scheme have been committed by Chinese companies and as a result, Pakistan was able to escape long hours of load shedding, he said.

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The investment also helped “place our industry and agriculture sectors back on track at a point in time when nearly 20 hours of power outages per day had crippled the country’s economy.”

He stressed that it was time to further deepen the business-to-business relations between Pakistan and China.

“Given that China is the largest investor in Pakistan, we have an opportunity to enhance our exports and imports to the neighbouring country,” the PM said.

He pointed out that labour was expensive in China therefore businessmen from the neighbouring nation could relocate their units to Pakistan’s Special Economic Zones (SEZs).

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“This will create a win-win situation for businesses of both sides,” PM Shehbaz stated.

He also said Pakistan could implement Chinese techniques in agriculture sector to increase the per acre yield.

In a statement issued last week, the Foreign Office (FO) said that the upcoming trip will be the PM’s first visit to China since assuming office in April 2022 and follows his meeting with President Xi Jinping in Uzbekistan earlier this year in September.

“The PM will be among the first leaders to visit China following the historic 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China,” the FO added.