Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on Friday said that China had always been great friend of Pakistan and it was an all weather relationship.
A delegation of China Development Bank led by Liu Hui, Deputy Director General and Board of Directors of Pakistan-China Investment Company, called on Finance Minister Ishaq Dar here.
He underlined that the political leadership of both the countries had a common vision and talk of the robust economic cooperation between the two countries and regional connectivity.
He said there was a great potential for investment by the private sector of China into energy and infrastructure projects. He emphasized the importance of providing assistance and financing facility to the private sector in order to achieve the goals of extensive economic cooperation.
He also mentioned about the economic progress Pakistan had made during the last one year. He said all the macro-economic targets were achieved with considerable increase in revenue collection and foreign remittances. He said with growth in exports and decrease in imports, the trade deficit had improved. He further underlined that their stock exchange performed very well and hoped that with political stability in the country, the economy would perform better in current fiscal year.
The finance minister underlined that the Pakistan-China Investment Company could play an important role in developing economic cooperation between the two countries. He said there was a lot of potential in private sector of the two countries and the company could play a bigger role to promote mutual trade and investment in order to bring development and prosperity in the region.
The deputy director general said that the economic corridor would set a good example of Pakistan-China cooperation and the China Development Bank was playing an important role in developing their friendship. She informed that the Bank would play a role of bridge between the private sectors of both the countries for development of Pakistan. She informed that Chinese investors were interested in exploring Pakistani market and there was a great scope for joint ventures. She hoped that with the future cooperation between the two countries, there would be a new era of development. She conveyed the sentiments of the governor of the China Development Bank to the finance minister.
The finance minister concluded that the two countries were great friends having close cooperation and open foreign policy and extensive economic cooperation would take their relations to a new height.
The meeting was also attended by Dr Waqar Masood, Finance Secretary Saleem Sethi, Secretary Economic Affairs Division Tariq Bajwa, FBR Chairman Rana Assad Amin, Advisor to Finance Ministry Shahid Mahmood, Additional Finance Secretary/SA to the finance minister and senior officials of the ministry of finance.