Business

Step forward: Lahore prepares to welcome Chinese consulate

PCJCCI chief says it will help business community of both countries.

Our Correspondent May 06, 2015

PCJCCI chief says it will help business community of both countries. CREATIVE COMMONS

LAHORE: In a bid to facilitate the business community establish close contacts with their Chinese counterparts, a Chinese consulate will be opened in Lahore.

This was stated by Pak-China Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industries President Faisal Shah Afridi.

According to Afridi, the consulate will help the business community obtain the country’s visas, which would go a long way in facilitating the province that is already seeing heavy investments from the Chinese side due to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

“This is a step forward by China to speed up Punjab-based investment projects promised under the CPEC.”

Afridi said China will then be in a position to assist its companies in relocating to Lahore and other parts of Punjab.

For instance, the Lahore Orange Line Mass transit, to be executed with the help of the Chinese at an investment of $1.6 billion, will require 5,000 professionals and labourers.

Additionally, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China bank has signed $4.23 billion worth financial agreements with different companies to execute other projects in Punjab.

Meanwhile, Afridi said that there was a need to train the Pakistani workforce that lacks in specialised expertise.

“Pakistan is in dire need of expertise — something majority of our workforce lacks,” said Afridi.

“We are also turning our training institute into a university to meet future labour demands.”

Afridi added that as president of PCJCCI and a stakeholder in the Economic Zone, which is currently involved in 11 joint ventures with China, he remained optimistic over the partnership agreement between the two countries.

“Pak-China economic relations are not dependent on any particular government. They will largely remain unaffected by political change.”

Published in The Express Tribune, May 7^th, 2015.

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