Honorary investment councilors to multiply Chinese direct investment, PM’s aide

Islamabad: Pakistan is appointing honorary investment councilors to multiply Chinese direct investment in the country, a key aide of Prime Minister Imran Khan said.

Adviser to Prime Minister on Commerce Abdul Razak Dawood said the honorary councilors are expected to boost Chinese direct investment in Pakistan.

Addressing a conference organized by the Pakistan-China Institute (PCI) titled “Pakistan-China at 70: A Unique Bilateral Partnership,” Dawood said Pakistan had so far appointed eight honorary investment councilors who know Pakistan well. “They (would) help to build relationship between people,” he added.

He said: “The commerce ministry is appointing honorary investment councilors in different Chinese cities to encourage investors for investment in Pakistan. We have organized several video conferences with different Chinese investors and parties (investors) in different cities.”

He said that one of these eight councilors informed that he had 20 investors ready to bring investment into Pakistan in several fields.

Dawood said 40 potential Chinese investors had expressed their intentions for investing in construction, production, manufacturing, chemicals, textile, and tiles, adding that it was just the beginning and we are preparing for the Strategic Trade Policy Frame Work and diversification of local products to enhance exports.

He said that the Free Trade Agreement between Pakistan and China, that formally started on January 1, 2020 was gaining momentum despite COVID-19 Pandemic, adding that trade between both the countries was on rise and would further increase when pandemic is over.

He said that exports to China witnessed about 30 percent increase during last financial year ended on June, 30 2021 and reached to S2.33 billion.

The Advisor said that both the countries were concentrating on agriculture and industrial cooperation, adding that China was also providing technical assistance in agriculture research and introduced high-yielding rice seed, which help to enhance per-acre output non-basmati rice, besides increasing its exports to many times.

He said that Pakistan was now focusing more on value addition of products to enhance its exports, adding that as a result local exports of textile value added products gone up, while exports of yarn decreased by 2 percent.

Dawood said since the COVID-19 had restricted movement of Chinese investors, however expressed the hope it would gain momentum once corona-virus reduces. “More Chinese investors will visit Pakistan to explore existing opportunities in different sectors of local economy,” he added.

He said that issuance of work visa had witnessed about 42 percent increase, adding that more people would come for investment during the days to come, which would further enhance bilateral trade and investment relations between both the countries.

Dawood said that the number of medium size companies coming in Pakistan has already been pacing up.

He said that Pakistan was also focusing on regional diversification for integrated regional trade by linking Central Asian States with road links under CPEC to capitalize investment done in Gwadar and development of the region.

He said that prior to this the Chinese investors were invited for making investments to and produce imports substitute for Pakistan, adding that now they are asked to come and invest for producing products to exports.