Exhibition, seminars and workshops held. PHOTO: FILE
ISLAMABAD:
Pakistan and China are all-weather friends and business forums help to strengthen their bond and transform it in to bigger projects like Gawadar and Karakoram Highway.
Chinese Deputy Ambassador Yao Wen stated this at the closing ceremony of the Pak-China Business Forum 2014 on Monday. He was addressing entrepreneurs from both countries along with students and faculty of COMSATS Institute of Science and Technology (CIIT) and other varsities at Pak-China Friendship Centre. “The signing of about 50 memorandums of understanding and agreements between Chinese and Pakistani companies will lay a solid foundation for future course.”
The mega event comprised of an exhibition, seminars, workshops and an industrial and academic expo spread over four days. A senior member of Guangzhou Chamber of Commerce stated, “It is safe for Chinese investors to invest in the country. Pakistan is quite ideal in terms of labour and tax policy.” We will act Pakistan’s ambassadors after our return, he promised, amid applause from participants.
Solar Technology Company General Manager Sai Xue Zhao said he would encourage foreigners, especially Chinese, to invest in Pakistan. “As the demand for solar energy is increasing in Pakistan, I received hundreds of customers who want to use it as an alternative energy source.”
COMSATS Management Sciences Dean Qaiser Abbas said 52 agreements were signed in textile, information and communication technologies (ICT) sectors. On the sidelines of the event, officials from Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry visited Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce and Industry. “A Chinese software company has also signed a project of $5 million with a Pakistani company to build a software park here, which is a big achievement of this event,” he remarked.
Abbas said they had productive discussions in renewable and new energy technologies, ICT, water conservation, purification and sanitation and biomedical materials with their Chinese counterparts and think tanks.
Pakistan Board of Investment Secretary Imran Afzal Cheema said these events could lead to greater dialogue on liberalisation of trade and foreign investment.
Some 43 companies of China along with over 60 delegates participated in the forum Around 95,000 visitors showed up at the event. Rector CIIT announced that next year the forum would be held at the same venue on first the Friday of March.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 25th, 2014.
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