ISLAMABAD: A business delegation of Karamay Muncipal Government of China led by Executive Vice Mayor visited Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry to explore opportunities of joint ventures and business partnerships with Pakistani counterparts. The delegation was representing various sectors including oil & gas, logistics, food processing, environment protection, software, catering (food), engineering and construction.
Speaking at the occasion, Wang Jun, Executive Vice Mayor of Karamy said that Pakistan and China enjoyed excellent relations and there was a need to bring private sectors of both countries further closer to achieve better progress and prosperity for the two nations. He said the third Karamay Forum would be held at Lahore and it would provide a good platform to the private sectors of both countries to interact and explore new avenues of mutual cooperation. He said Chinese investors have invested in fishing facilities at Gwadar and wanted to explore more investment in Pakistan. He said Karamay was an advanced industrialized city and Pakistan could get good economic benefits by developing close cooperation with it. He also invited a delegation of ICCI to visit Karamay to explore business opportunities in China.
Khalid Iqbal Malik, President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry in his welcome address said that CPEC has started a new chapter of long term partnership between China and Pakistan and hoped that private sectors of both countries would take full benefits from it through joint ventures and investment in various projects. He said that many sectors of Pakistan’s economy including power generation, construction, infrastructure development, oil & gas, logistics, engineering, food processing and others offered huge investment opportunities and urged that Chinese investors should bring technology & machinery to set up industrial units in Pakistan.
Lt. Gen. ® Abdul Qayyum, Chairperson, Senate Standing Committee on Defense Production said that Pakistan has very competent engineers and skilled manpower and Chinese investors should set up industries in Pakistan to take advantage of our human capital. He said Chinese could invest in agriculture, fish farming, industry, tourism and many other sectors in Pakistan. He said CPEC was a project of shared prosperity for both countries and for the region as well. He said there was a lack of information between private sectors and exchange of trade delegations would fill this information gap.
Khalid Malik, Senior Vice President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry thanked Chinese delegation and hoped that their visit would lead to materialization of some good business deals between the private sectors of both countries. Khalid Javed, Tariq Sadiq, Zafar Bakhtawari, Zahid Maqbool, Nasir Qureshi and others also spoke at the occasion.
