President Mamnoon Hussain on Monday said that the relationship between Pakistan and China had assumed a new dimension of strong economic underpinnings after the two countries signed the memorandum of understanding on China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) in July 2013.
Addressing a dinner hosted for the business delegation of China-Pakistan Friendship Association (CPFA) at Aiwan-e-Sadr, the president noted that the prospective trade and investment opportunities arising from the game-changing CPEC project had evoked a lot of interest among the business communities of China and Pakistan, which would open up new avenues of trade and investment cooperation between the two countries.
The CPFA delegation was headed by former ambassador Sha Zukang.
Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Reforms Ahsan Iqbal, Federal Minister for Commerce Khurram Dastgir Khan, Privatisation Commission Chairman Muhammad Zubair and Ambassador of China to Pakistan Sun Weidong were also present on the occasion.
The president said that CPEC would connect the nodes of growth centers along the way and facilitate expansion of trade and investment through a network of roads, rail, fiber optic cables, and energy pipelines, besides providing for the creation of special economic zones, industrial parks and trade centers.
President Mamnoon said that China was Pakistan’s major trading partner and with the signing of China-Pakistan Free Trade Agreement (CPFTA) the volume of trade between the two countries had leapfrogged to $12.3 billion and emphasised that efforts should continue to increase it further.
He said that the revival of the national economy had been an important pillar of the government’s strategy. During the last two and a half years, the economy had come out of the doldrums and significant progress had been made.
“Positive macroeconomic performance has resulted in a soaring stock market and increased investment. The establishment of Pakistan Stock Exchange is an important step and it will have a very positive impact on our economy,” the president remarked.
He said that Pakistan was an emerging market, which had one of the most liberal foreign investment regimes in South Asia and the government was focused on improving investment climate in the country through implementation of Investment Strategy 2013-17.
