Our fiscal cuisine needs Chinese flavour

Pakistan’s Ambassador to China Masood Khan called on Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani at Prime Minister’s House on Saturday and briefed him about Pak-China economic cooperation. The ambassador briefed the Prime Minister especially following his recent visit to China in connection with Boao Conference where he had useful meetings with China’s Executive Vice Premier, Li Keqiang, and several corporate leaders. About the progress regarding the investment by the growing Chinese solar energy industry in Pakistan, the ambassador said that top Chinese entrepreneurs would visit Pakistan next month to explore and expand solar energy cooperation between the two countries.
It may be mentioned that the Prime Minister in his recent visit invited the influential Chinese solar energy entrepreneurs to invest in Pakistan. The Prime Minister expressed satisfaction that the decisions regarding the energy projects taken during his visit to China were being implemented swiftly by the two sides. During his recent visit to China the Prime Minister asked the Chinese leadership and the Axiom Bank of China to extend confessional credit for small and medium size dams, water conservancy and irrigation projects in Pakistan. These projects will also create jobs opportunities and alleviate poverty especially in the rural areas of the country. A credit line of $ 700 million covers these projects. Credit for other energy projects is also being fast-tracked. Ambassador Masood Khan apprised the Prime Minister about the preparations being made by the two sides to hold the second session of Joint Energy Working Group (JEWG) in Islamabad in the second week of May, 2012. In December 2010, during the visit of the Chinese Premier, Wen Jiabao, to Pakistan, both sides decided to set up the JEWG which held its inaugural session in Beijng in August, 2011. The mechanism of the JEWG covers energy projects in conventional and alternate sectors.