China-Pakistan B2B cooperation platform to be launched
by Khalid Aziz
ISLAMABAD, Jul 8 (Gwadar pro)- All-Pakistan Chinese Enterprises Association (APCEA), the Chinese Embassy in Pakistan, and Pakistan’s Board of Investment (BoI) are planning to launch a B2B cooperation platform to bring investors from both countries together.
This was revealed by Yang Jianduo, Chairman of APCEA and top representative of Power China in Pakistan, while speaking at the fourth session of the conference "Pakistan-China At 70: A Unique Bilateral Partnership" organised by Pakistan-China Institute.
Yang said that the successful completion of the first phase of CPEC had set the stage for Pakistan's economic and industrial growth, evident from increasing electricity consumption at home and a surge in Pakistan’s exports to China. He said that it was time to complement the successes of the first phase with enhanced business and industrial cooperation between the two Iron Brothers. For this purpose, more B2B cooperation platforms should be built to facilitate joint ventures from both sides.
Yang said that channels to import goods from China were well established. However, it was not the case with Pakistan's exports to China. "This is why I heard only this year during my six-year-long stay in Pakistan about the export of Pakistani mangoes to China", he said. He said that Pakistan's exports to China grew well during the current fiscal year despite the pandemic, adding that the figures will go further up in the future.
Advisor to Prime Minister on Commerce Abdul Razak Dawood also spoke on the occasion. He said that the commerce ministry held a very fruitful online session with Chinese investors on Wednesday, in which eight influential Chinese businessmen well familiar with Pakistan offered their services to work as honorary trade counselors of Pakistan in China. He said that one of the investors said that he was planning along with 20 other Chinese investors to visit Pakistan after the pandemic.
During his speech at the fourth session, Muhammad Aurangzeb, President and CEO of Habib Bank suggested that Pakistan should tap the Panda bonds market for financing the CPEC projects. He said that HBL was cooperating with Chinese enterprises since the start of CPEC and had signed agreements with several Chinese enterprises including Power China and CRBC. HBL had two branches in China, one in Urumqi and the other in Beijing, maintaining accounts of 15,000 Chinese individuals. It had also opened a branch in Gwadar where it had employed Chinese staff to facilitate the Chinese investors.
