ISLAMABAD: A delegation of 250 buyers and importers is expected to accompany Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao to Pakistan and purchase agreements worth $400-500 million are expected to be signed during the visit.
It is also expected that an announcement will be made to grant Pakistani goods greater access to Chinese markets when the delegation arrives on a three-day visit on December 18. Furthermore, it is also expected that an agreement regarding sovereign and commercial guarantees for Exim Bank China, which will provide financing for development projects, will be reached.
Sources added that Pakistan has asked the Chinese government to accept commercial guarantees, exactly like it accepts sovereign guarantees, for financing provided for different projects through Exim Bank China undertaken by Chinese companies in Pakistan.
Sources within the Ministry of Commerce said that the last delegation that visited Pakistan with the Chinese prime minister in 2007 signed purchase agreements worth $200 million for Pakistani goods.
According to sources, a delegation had earlier gone from Pakistan to China and presented a list of 268 Pakistani products that the country would like to get concessions on. Chinese officials had kept the list and not made any commitment but it is expected that an announcement will be made during the Chinese prime minister’s visit that will provide greater access to Chinese markets. This will reduce the trade imbalance between China and Pakistan and increase the country’s exports.
The Pakistani delegation to China had also agreed upon providing technical assistance to the export industry, setting up free stalls at Chinese industrial exhibitions and sending groups of Chinese buyers to Pakistan. The agreements will be finalised and signed during the upcoming visit.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 14th, 2010.
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