PROVINCE REPORT
ISLAMABAD: Deputy Prime Minister/Foreign Minister Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar, Sunday, said that as Pakistan and China celebrated 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations, their iron brotherhood was growing stronger with each passing year.
“Our friendship has stood the test of time, changing global realities, and regional challenges. I am particularly pleased that our historic government-to-government relationship is now being reinforced by a vibrant and expanding business-to-business partnership,” the DPM/FM said in his address at Pakistan-China B2B Investment Conference on IT & Telecom, battery energy storage systems (BESS) and agriculture in Hangzhou, China.
The DPM/FM said the Chinese economic model of learning by doing, induction, and deduction offered lessons for Pakistan.
He said under the dynamic leadership of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, the government was pursuing an ambitious agenda of economic revival, industrial expansion, and sustainable growth. Over the past four years, he said they had achieved economic stabilization, and the economic trajectory today was firmly upward, despite external headwinds.
“Pakistan is open for business. Pakistan is reforming. Pakistan is rising. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has also fundamentally redefined its role, placing economic diplomacy at the heart of our foreign policy. Our expanding B2B engagement with China stands as a powerful example of this new direction.
So far, we have organized two B2B conferences in China and two in Pakistan. This is now the fifth edition of sector-focused conferences,” the Foreign Office Spokesperson, in a press release, quoted the DPM/FM as saying. Dar said that cumulatively, more than 300 MoUs and nearly three dozen joint ventures had been signed, with a total value exceeding 13 billion US dollars.
Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, Liu Jie, Governor of Zhejiang Province, Shaza Fatima Khawaja, Minister for IT and Telecommunication, Rana Tanveer Hussain, Minister for National Food Security and Research, Haroon Akhtar, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Industries and Production, Ambassador of Pakistan to China Khalil Hashmi, Omar Saeed, CEO of Servis Group of Pakistan and Chairman Jin Yongsheng of Long March Tyre, Qian Xiaojun, President of IBI Goulian Gufen and Chen Jianzhang, Chairman China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, Zhejiang Provincial Committee, were also present on the occasion.
The DPM/FM said last week, he had inaugurated the IBI Pakistan Digital Economy Headquarters in Islamabad.
In less than eight months after Chairman Qian’s meeting with the prime minister in Beijing. IBI had established an office and started its operations. IBI’s recent visit to Pakistan last week led to the signing of MoUs worth over one billion dollars, he added.
The DPM/FM also mentioned the successful joint venture between Servis Group of Pakistan and Lang March Tyres of China which within five years, was now about to create a billion-dollar JV Company, listed on the Pakistan Stock Exchange.
“These achievements are the result of coordinated efforts across multiple Pakistani institutions under the guidance of the Prime Minister. I commend every individual and institution contributing to this mission. I would especially like to commend Ambassador Khalil Hashmi for taking several initiatives including championing the cause of B2B matchmaking in our priority sectors,” he added.
Dar opined that over 500 companies from both sides were present in this hall and the sectors chosen for their engagement were central to Pakistan’s economic transformation and industrial modernization.
