Pakistan-China conference opens to attract Chinese investment  

A five-day Pakistan-China Business Friendship Conference, organised by Pakistan's Ministry of Commerce and the Board of Investment and Trade Development Authority of Pakistan, opened yesterday in Islamabad. Attendees include a 100-member Chinese delegation, executives of Chinese companies working in Pakistan, and prominent Pakistani business leaders and traders. With additional visits arranged to Lahore and Karachi, the Chinese delegates will explore trade and investment opportunities in a number of sectors including energy, infrastructure, agriculture, renewable energy, and information and communication technology. Since Pakistan and China signed a Free Trade Agreement in 2007, China has become Pakistan's biggest trading partner, with bilateral trade volumes reaching $12bn in 2014-2015. 

Pakistan-China Business Friendship Conference, organised by the Ministry of Commerce in collaboration with the Board of Investment and Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP), will commence from today (Monday) and continue till Friday.

A 100-member Chinese delegation will take part in the conference which will be attended by prominent Pakistani businesspersons, traders and executives of Chinese companies working in Pakistan.

Federal Minister for Commerce Khurram Dastgir Khan, Minister for Planning, Development and Reforms Ahsan Iqbal and Ambassador of China to Pakistan Sun Weidong will inaugurate the Conference today.

The first leg of the conference will be held here from Monday to Friday. The delegates will then travel to Lahore for a day where business-to-business (B2B) sessions with prominent CEOs and senior executives of top companies headquartered in Punjab will be organized by Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI).

The Punjab government will arrange field visits for the delegation to major industrial areas. At the last leg of the visit, the delegation will proceed to Karachi, where Pakistan Business Council (PBC), with support of the government of Sindh and TDAP, will host an event, which will include B2B sessions with prominent businessmen in Karachi on January 21 and 22.

The Chinese delegates will explore trade and investment opportunities in energy, infrastructure, textiles, agriculture, renewable energy, privatisation, engineering, information and communication technologies and mining sectors.

Ministry of Commerce, LCCI and PBC will send invites to 100 to 120 eminent Pakistani businesspersons for the events in Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi, respectively.

China is Pakistan’s major trading partner with volume of trade reaching an all-time high of $12.299 billion in 2014-15. The two countries signed the China-Pakistan Free Trade Agreement (CPFTA) on November 24, 2006, which became operational from July 1, 2007.

Later, a Free Trade Agreement on trade in services was also signed on February 21, 2009 and is operational since October 10, 2009. Prior to signing of CPFTA the volume of trade between the two countries was in vicinity of $4 billion, of which exports from Pakistan amounted to $575 million.

Over the years the trade volume has leapfrogged to $12 billion with Pakistan’s exports bourgeoning to $2.1 billion in 2014-15, a more than three and a half times increase.

The signing of the China-Pak Economic Corridor agreement has evoked a lot of interest in the prospective trade and investment opportunities arising from this project among the Chinese and Pakistani businesses. A special session will be dedicated to present the contours of CPEC in detail and the investment opportunities which may arise from it.