Pakistan and China should focus on promoting direct business linkages between their entrepreneurs to further enhance bilateral trade and explore joint venture opportunities in potential areas of mutual interest, said Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) President Muhammad Ahmed Waheed.
Speaking at the China-Pakistan Two-Way Online Trade Promotion Conference on Wednesday, Waheed said such ventures were important to explore prospects of business matchmaking and trade promotion, especially when the pandemic had restricted international travel.
The conference was organised by the Department of Commerce of Fujian province of China in collaboration with the Consulate General of Pakistan in Guangzhou and the ICCI. Speaking on the occasion, Fujian Department of Commerce Deputy Director General Huang Dezhi stressed that Pakistan and China were strategic partners and the leadership of both countries was determined to further strengthen economic ties.
He said Fujian province wanted to diversify cooperation with Pakistan to further expand bilateral trade.
He pointed out that the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) was creating new opportunities for long-term cooperation between the two countries and added that Fujian was ready for increased industrial cooperation with Pakistan with technology transfer to further develop its industrial sector.
Consul General of Pakistan Diyar Khan said Fujian was a gateway to Southeast China and Pakistan could achieve beneficial results for its economy by strengthening cooperation with it.
He revealed that Pakistan-Fujian bilateral trade was around $1 billion, which could be enhanced further by more efforts from both sides.
He called for activating the China-Pakistan Joint Business and Investment Council to deepen trade and investment relations between the two countries.
ICCI’s former senior vice president Muhammad Shakeel Munir highlighted the potential for Pakistan’s marble and granite sector and emphasised that Chinese investors should explore joint venture and investment avenues in Pakistan to produce value-added finished marble products that had a great potential for exports around the world.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 30th, 2020.
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