ISLAMABAD: China, Pakistan’s major trading partner with volume of trade reaching an all-time high of $12.299 billion in 2014-15, is going to send a 100-member delegation comprising private sector entrepreneurs and investors to Pakistan for investment in arrears of energy, infrastructures, telecom and textile primarily to wriggle Pakistan out of economic morass.
The visit of 100-member delegation would kick off with a Business Opportunities Conference on 18th-19th January in Islamabad, to be organised by the Ministry of Commerce with the support of Board of Investment (BOI), Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) and World Bank.
The delegation will then travel to Lahore where business sessions with prominent CEOs and senior executives of top companies headquartered in Punjab will be organized by Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) on 20th January 2016. The government of Punjab will arrange field visits for the delegation to major industrial areas on 21st January 2016.
At the last leg of the visit, the delegation would proceed to Karachi, where Pakistan Business Council (PBC), with support of government of Sindh and TDAP, would host an event, which would include B2B sessions with premier Karachi based businesses on 22nd January 2016.
China, which is going to invest $46 billion in Pakistan under the umbrella of CPEC wants Pakistan to have energy sufficient to improve its economic muscle through maximum investment in various sectors of economy. The decision to send 100 investors has got significance knowing the fact that Pakistan has imposed regulatory duty (RD) on Chinese products. This means that China seriously wants Pakistan to improve its economic muscle.
Though Beijing has expressed its annoyance over the regulatory duty (RD) on Chinese products imposed by authorities saying that the said initiative is tantamount to violation of the existing China Pakistan Free Trade Agreement (CPFTA), yet it wants to provide economic solace to Pakistan preempting it to be the long strategic partners under CPEC project.
China has shown its annoyance over imposition of regulatory duty on products being exported to Pakistan terming that it is inconsistent to the bilateral trade agreement and requested Pakistan to erase the said duty, revealed minutes of the sixth meeting of second phase of China-Pakistan FTA talks held in Beijing on October 14016, 2015 of which copy is exclusively available with The News.
The two countries signed the China-Pakistan Free Trade Agreement (CPFTA) on 24th November 2006, which became operational from 1st July 2007.
Later, a Free Trade Agreement in Services was also signed on 21st February 2009 and is operational since 10th October 2009. Prior to signing of CPFTA, the volume of trade between the two countries was in vicinity of $4 billion.
Over the years the trade volume has leapfrogged to $12 billion with Pakistani exports going to $2.1 billion in 2014-15, more than three and a half times increase. The CPEC MoU, which was signed in July 2013, is more recent development in the economic relationship between the two countries. It is expected to be a watershed in the trade and investment relations.
The Corridor would connect the growth centres along the way and facilitate expansion of trade and investment through a network of roads, rail, fiber optic cables, and energy pipelines.
The MoU also provides for the creation of special economic zones, industrial parks and trade centers and development of energy and technical cooperation. The prospective trade and investment opportunities arising from this game-changing project have evoked a lot of interest among the Chinese and Pakistani businesses.
Published in The News, January 7th, 2016
http://www.thenews.com.pk/print/86968-100-Chinese-business-persons-due-in-Pakistan