ISLAMABAD: A five-day Pakistan -China Business Opportunities Conference will start from Monday (today). In this regard, the Chinese delegates have started arriving here to participate in this conference.
The Business Opportunities Conference is being organized by the Ministry of Commerce with the support of Board of Investment (BOI), Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) and the World Bank.
Minister for Commerce Khurram Dastgir Khan will inaugurate the conference while head of the Chinese delegation will deliver keynote address in the inaugural session.
A well-placed source at Ministry of Commerce (MoC) told Customs Today that around 100 prominent businesspersons from China will actively participate in the conference to explore trade and investment opportunities in energy, infrastructure, textiles, agriculture, engineering, ICT and mining sectors. Ministry of Commerce, LCCI and PBC has invited matching 100 to 120 eminent Pakistani business persons to the events in Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi, respectively.
The delegation will then travel to Lahore where 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). Punjab Government will arrange field visits for the delegation to major industrial areas.
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.
The concept papers available with Customs Today reveals background of the conference that 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) in November 2006, which became operational from in July 2007. Later, a Free Trade Agreement on trade in services was also signed in February 2009 and is operational since October 2009.
Prior to signing of CPFTA the volume of trade between the two countries was in vicinity of $4 billion out of exports from Pakistan were $ 575 million. Over the years the trade volume has leap frogged to $ 12 billion with Pakistan exports bourgeoning to $2.1 billion in 2014-15, a more than three and a half times increase.
The China-Pak Economic Corridor (CPEC) MoU, which was signed in July 2013, is the 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 nodes of growth centers 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.
