Pakistan’s Ambassador to China, Moin-ul-Haque has said that bilateral trade volume between Pakistan and China would set new records by the end of 2021.
In an interview to China Global Television Network, the ambassador said that China is Pakistan’s largest trading partner, besides being the second largest export destination.
Haque said in the first three quarters, bilateral trade between two countries has grown by mostly by more than 60pc and Pakistani exports to China have grown by 75pc. About further growth in China Pakistan bilateral economic and trade cooperation, he said that the most important part of phase two of CPEC covers areas of agriculture especially modernization of agriculture and science and technology in Pakistan.
“[At present], the bilateral trade volume is $20 billion but we are hoping that this year, it will touch $25 billion. Pakistan exports have been around $1.8 billion, but this year, we are hoping that it will reach $3 billion but still, we feel that we can double this number in the next four to five years,” he added.
To further enhance Pakistani exports to China, the ambassador recommended that textile and sports goods are the strongest sectors in Pakistan and could play an important role.
“Pakistan is one of the few countries, which have the whole value chain of the textile industry from weaving to finishing and textile products are very well known. Pakistan is the largest producer of footballs and Pakistani footballs have been officially used in the football world cups,” he added.
About the role of China International Import Expo (CIIE) to help promote Pakistani market in China and the world, he said, during the last four years, CIIE has been a very important platform and it has given an exposure to Pakistani traders and businessmen to showcase their products to the world’s largest market.
To a question regarding China’s role in further opening up for foreign investment in Pakistan, Ambassador Haque said: “In the second phase of [the] China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), we have opened up the respective markets and deepened the access to our traders.”
Now, more than 1,000 products enjoy duty-free access to each other’s market so it is a big boost to bilateral trade between Pakistan and China, he added. Ambassador Haque said that in future, Pakistan would like to add and expand the free trade agreements going into the services sector because the services sectors for both Pakistan and China form the major portion of the GDPs of the two countries.
“Earlier, it used to be agriculture, industry, but now [the] services sector is the backbone of the economy. So, we would like the services sectors to be added in our future negotiations with China,” he added.