ISLAMABAD: The Chinese and Pakistani companies conducted online trade negotiations through cloud network video technology on the first day of “2020 Zhejiang Export Online Fair” opened in Hangzhou, China.
More than 150 Zhejiang and Pakistani companies will participate in this online fair and about 300 rounds of online precision matching negotiations in the next five days the event being held to promote Pakistan’s hardware and electromechanical products.
In the current COVID-19 epidemic situation, this is the first time that the Zhejiang Provincial Department of Commerce has organised an online fair specifically for Pakistani traders and businessmen, Economic Daily-China Economic Net reported here on Wednesday.
Deputy Secretary of the Party Group of Zhejiang Provincial Department of Commerce, Deputy Director Han Jie, Minister of Economic and Commercial Counselor of the Chinese Embassy in Pakistan Wang Zhihua, Deputy Director of Punjab Investment and Trade Bureau Muhammad Sohail Qadri attended the opening ceremony and delivered speeches.
Han Jie informed that the bilateral trade volume between Zhejiang and Pakistan has reached the US $3.7 billion, covering many aspects such as electromechanical engineering and modern agricultural logistics. Zhejiang has gradually become a distribution centre for China-Pakistan trade and according to statistics, there are as many as 1,200 Pakistanis doing business in Yiwu, Zhejiang, and more than 200 enterprises have been registered and established. The industrial structure of both parties is highly complementary and fit.
Counselor Wang Zhihua is full of confidence in the prospects of China-Pakistan economic and trade cooperation. He believes that the New Coronary Pneumonia epidemic is a challenge for China and Pakistan, but it also contains many opportunities.First of all, the second phase of the China-Pakistan Free Trade Agreement has officially come into effect, and the ratio of the tariff items of the two countries implementing zero-tariff products has been increased from 35% to 75%.
Many hardware and mechanical products are listed here. Second, the construction of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) in the new stage is expanding into areas such as people’s livelihood, industrial cooperation, and agriculture. There is a large demand for raw materials, hardware products, and mechanical equipment, which is a new space for the development of trade between the two countries.
Third, the epidemic has stimulated new trade models, cross-border e-commerce has developed rapidly, and new communication methods such as video conferences and cloud exhibitions have improved communication efficiency and injected new impetus into the trade between the two countries. At the same time, Wang Zhihua hopes that more Pakistani products will be exported to China in the future, and hopes that Zhejiang enterprises will invest in Pakistan and tap the market potential of Pakistan.
