PM invites Chinese firms to relocate industries to Pakistan under 'win-win' partnership model

• Karachi SEZ offers one-window operation.
• PM eyes $10bn agriculture trade increase.
• MoUs worth billions signed in China.

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Sunday invited Chinese companies and entrepreneurs to relocate their industries and businesses to Pakistan, enter into joint ventures with the local firms, and benefit from the country’s investor-friendly policies, describing the initiative as a “win-win model” for both nations.

Addressing the Pakistan-China B2B Investment Conference on IT and Telecom, battery energy storage systems (BESS) and agriculture in Hangzhou, China, the prime minister said that labour in China today had become pretty expensive and that China was obviously moving towards a very high level of industrialisation.

He observed that the industry where China was no longer competitive because of expensive labour could come to Pakistan, bring in plant and machinery, enter into joint ventures with Pakistani entrepreneurs, manufacture goods, and export to third countries.

“This model will be a win-win model for Chinese and Pakistani entrepreneurs, and this will be something of a roaring success in times to come, whether it is textile or leather or other areas,” the prime minister maintained in his speech broadcast on national TV channels.

He also invited Chinese businessmen to come and see the export zone in Karachi, where they would have great opportunities to understand business propositions.

Referring to the potential in mines and minerals, he said that it was also a very important area where Pakistan had large deposits of minerals and gemstones.

About the agriculture sector, he said Pakistan was basically an agrarian economy. Last year, they sent 1,000 boys and girls to China for advanced training, who returned and are doing a great job, but this was just the first step.

The prime minister emphasised that they really needed to move forward and having opportunities to improve their per acre yield, have the highest quality seeds, best agricultural practices and mechanization through which they could really advance their agriculture sector by many folds.

He said China imports about $100 billion worth of agricultural products from abroad. Pakistan’s share was just a fraction, adding that they needed their cooperation in this regard.

The prime minister hoped that in this manner, they would be able to produce agri products as per their requirement in terms of quality and other controls and if they worked together as iron brothers in this sector, they would be able to not only provide massive job opportunities in the rural areas of Pakistan but also be able to raise hundreds of thousands of small, medium entrepreneurs in the rural areas and have value addition and export those items to China.

In the next five to seven years, he said they expected an increase in their agricultural product trade to China by about $10 billion, which was not a big task.

The prime minister said IT and AI had huge potential, while special economic zones were also very important and shared that at the port city of Karachi, they had come up with a special economic zone spreading over more than 6,000 acres of land, where all basic amenities would be provided so that Chinese investors and Pakistani entrepreneurs together could invest there.

He said this special economic zone would have modern infrastructure, a seamless business environment and would offer a red-carpet treatment and one-window operation to the Chinese.

“I would like to offer this opportunity to all of you to come forward, and we are going to offer land to you on a long-term basis in terms of lease,” he added.

The prime minister further elaborated that it would be given on long-term lease at very attractive terms and conditions. This world-class special economic zone and the model would be replicated elsewhere in Pakistan through the huge Chinese contribution.

He said Pakistan was looking for expertise, experience, investments and not loans, not aid, not handouts, because handouts, aid never made a nation vibrant, never made a nation to stand on its own feet.

Prime Minister Shehbaz further said that under President Xi Jinping’s very dynamic leadership, their friendship was deeper than the deepest ocean and higher than the Himalayas, but ever since they had launched their space programme, it had reached to new heights.

The prime minister said that they had signed MoUs of worth billions of dollars, starting from Shenzhen and here in Hangzhou, stressing that these MoUs now needed to be converted into agreements.

He also expressed his satisfaction to hear that 30% of these MOUs had been converted into agreements, which most definitely ran into billions of dollars.

The prime minister said Pak-China friendship goes back to the days of the Silk Road.