Pakistani and Chinese companies have signed agreements and memorandums of understanding worth over $7 billion to promote cooperation and investment across various sectors, the Prime Minister’s Office said on Sunday.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif has invited the Chinese companies and entrepreneurs to relocate their industries and businesses to Pakistan, enter into joint ventures with the local firms, and benefit from the country’s investor-friendly policies, describing the initiative as a “win-win model” for both nations.
Addressing the Pakistan-China B2B Investment Conference on IT & Telecom, battery energy storage systems (BESS) and agriculture in Hangzhou, China, the prime minister said that labour in China today had become pretty expensive and that China was obviously moving towards a very high level of industrialisation.
He observed that the industry where China was no longer competitive because of expensive labour could come to Pakistan, bring in plant and machinery, enter into joint ventures with Pakistani entrepreneurs, manufacture goods, and export to third countries.
“This model will be a win-win model for Chinese and Pakistani entrepreneurs, and this will be something of a roaring success in times to come, whether it is textile or leather or other areas,” the prime minister maintained in his speech broadcast on national TV channels.
He also invited Chinese businessmen to come and see the export zone in Karachi, where they would have great opportunities to understand business propositions.
Referring to the potential in mines and minerals, he said that it was also a very important area where Pakistan had large deposits of minerals and gemstones.
About the agriculture sector, PM Shehbaz said Pakistan was basically an agrarian economy. Last year, they sent 1,000 boys and girls to China for advanced training, who returned and are doing a great job, but this was just the first step.
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar, Governor of Zhejiang Province, Shaza Fatima Khawaja, Minister for IT and Telecommunication, Attaullah Tarar Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Rana Tanveer Hussain, Minister for National Food Security and Research, Haroon Akhtar, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Industries and Production, Ambassador of Pakistan to China Khalil Hashmi, Omar Saeed, CEO of Servis Group of Pakistan and Chairman Jin Yongsheng of Long March Tyre, Qian Xiaojun, President of IBI Goulian Gufen and Chen Jianzhang, Chairman China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, Zhejiang Provincial Committee, were also present on the occasion.
The prime minister emphasized that they really needed to move forward and having opportunities to improve their per acre yield, have the highest quality seeds, best agricultural practices and mechanization through which they could really advance their agriculture sector by many folds.
He said China imports about 100 billion dollars worth of agricultural products from abroad. Pakistan’s share was just a fraction, adding that they needed their cooperation in this regard.
The prime minister hoped that in this manner, they would be able to produce agri products as per their requirement in terms of quality and other controls and if they worked together as iron brothers in this sector, they would be able to not only provide massive job opportunities in the rural areas of Pakistan but also be able to raise hundreds of thousands of small, medium entrepreneurs in the rural areas and have value addition and export those items to China.
In the next five to seven years, he said they expected an increase in their agri product trade to China by about 10 $billion dollars which was not a big task.
The prime minister said IT and AI had huge potential, while special economic zones were also very important and shared that at the port city of Karachi, they had come up with a special economic zone spreading over more than 6,000 acres of land, where all basic amenities would be provided so that Chinese investors and Pakistani entrepreneurs together could invest there.
He said this special economic zone would have modern infrastructure, a seamless business environment and would offer a red-carpet treatment and one-window operation to the Chinese.
“I would like to offer this opportunity to all of you to come forward, and we are going to offer land to you on a long-term basis in terms of lease,” he added.
The prime minister further elaborated that it would be given on long-term lease at very attractive terms and conditions. This world-class special economic zone and the model would be replicated elsewhere in Pakistan through the huge Chinese contribution.
He said Pakistan was looking for expertise, experience, investments and not loans, not aid, not handouts, because handouts, aid never made a nation vibrant, never made a nation to stand on its own feet.
PM Shehbaz further said that under President Xi Jinping’s very dynamic leadership, their friendship was deeper than the deepest ocean and higher than the Himalayas, but ever since they had launched their space programme, it had reached to new heights.
The prime minister said that they had signed MoUs of worth billions of dollars, starting from Shenzhen and here in Hangzhou, stressing that these MoUs now needed to be converted into agreements.
He also expressed his satisfaction to hear that 30% of these MOUs had been converted into agreements, which most definitely ran into billions of dollars.
The prime minister said Pak-China friendship goes back to the days of the Silk Road.
Everything was now being operated through digitization and China excelled in this field more than any other country in the world and Pakistan as a great partner because it had a very young population, he said, adding that they had undertaken programmes at the federal and provincial levels, empowering the youth in colleges and schools, giving them training and third party international certification so that they got very productive employment.
The prime minister further said that it was no coincidence that they were celebrating 75 years of the great friendship between Pakistan and China and this third B2B event in a row, starting from Shenzhen to Beijing and now here in Hangzhou, was a reflection of the same.
He also appreciated the city’s beauty, its organization, structure and wonderful management, adding that the city showed beyond any doubt the footprints of President Xi Jinping, who as governor and as secretary general of the city during 2002 to 2007 did a remarkable job to transform this province and this city into one of the fastest-growing cities around the globe.
Earlier, Minister for IT and Communication Shaza Fatima Khawaja, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Industries and Production Haroon Akhtar, Omar Saeed, CEO of Servis Group of Pakistan and Chairman Jin Yongsheng of Long March Tyre, Qian Xiaojun, President of IBI Goulian Gufen also spoke on the occasion and highlighted the major perspectives for joint ventures and cooperation in diverse sectors and shared their experiences.
Later, the prime minister also witnessed the signing of pacts between companies from the two countries.
PM meets Chinese corporate leaders
PM Shehbaz earlier held meetings with senior executives of leading Chinese companies in Hangzhou, focusing on cooperation in renewable energy, electric mobility, pharmaceuticals and investment during his official visit to China.
According to the Prime Minister’s Office, PM Shehbaz met representatives of Sheng Huo Neng Yuan Ke Ji Company, CATL, StarCharge and Xiuzheng Pharmaceutical Group as part of his outreach to China’s corporate sector.
In a meeting with Sheng Huo Neng Yuan Ke Ji Company CEO Agnes Siu, discussions focused on cooperation in the renewable energy sector, particularly solar power. The prime minister highlighted Pakistan’s growing renewable energy market and government measures aimed at facilitating investment in the sector.
The prime minister also met with Executive President of CATL, Oscar Luo. Discussions with CATL focused on cooperation in advanced batteries, energy storage and solar-linked solutions to support Pakistan’s clean energy transition.
A meeting of the premier with Chairwoman of Starcharge Group, Danwei Shao, centered on electric vehicle charging infrastructure and smart mobility systems.
President Xiuzheng Pharmaceuticals Xin Yuan called on the prime minister and discussed pharmaceutical manufacturing, healthcare cooperation and investment opportunities in Pakistan’s growing medical sector.
In the meetings, the potential of increasing investment, establishment of manufacturing facilities and expansion of the existing facilities in Pakistan was also discussed in detail.
In all the meetings, PM Shehbaz highlighted the policies of the government for ease of doing business in Pakistan and also shed light on the investment centric steps taken by the government. He emphasised the importance of Business to Business cooperation between Pakistani and Chinese companies to further strengthen the existing fraternal ties between Pakistan and China.
