President of China's Sinkiyang Chamber of Commerce and Industry Yusup Jan has said that Chinese businessmen are ready to join hands with Pakistani counterparts in different sectors including mining, infrastructure development, construction, environmental protection including water treatment projects, dairy, chemicals (glue) and cold storage establishment.
Yusup Jan, who was leading a five-member Chinese delegation, stated this while visiting Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), here on Saturday. He said that the Chinese business community values Pakistan highly therefore they are always ready to put their money in new ventures in Pakistan. He said that both China and Pakistan are resourceful countries but the level of bilateral economic relations do match with the warmth of their ties therefore the private sectors in the two countries need to come forward to further strengthen these relations.
While speaking on the occasion, LCCI President Sheikh Muhammad Arshad urged the Chinese and Pakistani entrepreneurs to take maximum benefit from each other's rich experience through joint ventures in various economic sectors. LCCI wants to promote regional trade and no other country could be better than China for Pakistani businessmen, he added. He urged the Chinese investors to enhance investment in Pakistan which is a resourceful country and offering a lot to the foreign investors.
LCCI chief informed the Chinese delegation that Pakistan is fourth largest producer of milk and cotton, ninth largest producer of wheat, 10th largest producer of rice, seventh largest producer of fruits and ranked 10th as far as labour force is concerned. He said that geographically, Pakistan is situated at one of the best places of the world. He said that foreign investors can make their way to the landlocked Central Asian States and countries of the South Asia through making investment in Pakistan.
Arshad further said that China is one of the largest trading partners of Pakistan and it is expected that bilateral trade between Pakistan and China will touch the figure of US 15 billion dollars within the next few years. "Although Pakistan's exports to China have been gradually increasing, trade has always been in favour of China. Because of excellent economic policies and the hard work of Chinese leadership, China has become a big economic force in the world," he mentioned.
He invited the Chinese businessmen to invest in Pakistan in priority sectors including oil and gas, mining, infrastructure, power (coal, hydel, gas based), IT & telecom, chemicals (fertilizer (urea), glass, value added textile manufactures, engineering goods, textile machinery, electronics, automotives, agricultural and agro based industry, pesticides, cool chains, food and fruit processing and packaging, live stock and dairy farming.
He said Pakistan because of its strategic location could be a more suitable destination for Chinese investments. Pakistan is offering liberal investment policies allowing 100 percent foreign equity and equal treatment to local and foreign investors. He said Pakistan has a network of export processing zones and industrial estates ready to accommodate Chinese investors especially in Punjab. LCCI president said that globalisation has provided Chinese investors a golden opportunity to relocate their large scale industry to Pakistan to reap the benefits of its most conducive business policies as compared to other regional countries.
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