The Party Secretary of CPC Qingdao Committee, China, Li Qun on Friday said there is a vast scope of shifting industrial production facilities from the Chinese economic hub-Qaingdao to Punjab province. He expressed these views while heading a 12-member delegation at a meeting with the Pak-China Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCJCCI) President Shah Faisal Afridi who is also Chief Executive Officer of the Haier Ruba Special Economic Zone.
Wang Luming Secretary General of CPC Qingdao Committee, Cui Weidong Director General of Qingdao Municipal Foreign Affairs Office, Ma Weigang Director General of Qingdao Municipal Bureau of Commerce and Ms Chen Xuanyi Deputy Division Chief of Qingdao Municipal Foreign Affairs Office were among the delegation. The delegation leader said that administration of Qingdao Commerce Bureau was keen to promote province-province integration between the two countries, which could be materialised through establishment of special economic zones through joint ventures. China is one of the most successful countries in terms of leveraging SEZs to achieve far-reaching economic transformations. It started with four zones at the initial stage to experiment with market oriented economic reforms which involves laws, regulations, taxation, land, labor, finance, customs and immigrations, h e said.
Li Qun said that together with the numerous industrial clusters, the SEZs have contributed significantly to national GDP,employment, exports, and attraction of FDIs. It was estimated that in recent years, SEZs at national level accounted for about 22 percent of national GDP, 46 percent of foreign direct investment, and 60 percent of exports and generated in excess of 30 million jobs. He also said that the SEZs have also played important roles in bringing new technologies to China and in adopting modern management practices. Special economic zones (SEZ) had played an instrumental role economic in the development of China as well as its integration to the global economy, he added.
Special economic zones are working successfully and Qingdao Commerce Bureau wants to establish new SEZs in Punjab especially in the areas of urban and rural infrastructure, construction, home appliances, IT & digital products, logistics, real estate, biopharmaceuticals, refrigerator, electric bicycle, automatic vending machine, new energy electrical tool vehicle, power plants including thermal, nuclear, gas, hydro, wind, transformer substation, biomass, photovoltaic, and solar energy sectors, he added.
Briefing the delegation, Shah Faisal Afridi said that special economic zones (SEZs) could be an effective instrument to accelerate industrial revolution in Pakistan, if implemented properly in the right context. Haier Ruba Special Economic Zones was one of its types in the country giving fruitful returns to the national economy, he said and added that new SEZs facilitated by the government of Punjab would prove to be fate changer for the people of province.
He said that SEZs contain a number of benefits like employment generation, export growth, government revenues, and foreign exchange earnings, skills upgrading, technology transfer and innovation, economic diversification and productivity enhancement of local firms. Shah Faisal Afridi appreciated the delegation's views and said, "To make this truly successful, the host governments and investors need more mutual understanding of the difference of development stages, legal and governance systems, institutions, social norms, cultures and even mindsets."