KARACHI: Executive Vice President and Secretary General of Shandong Chamber of Commerce China, Mr. Wangxuemin has said that Shandong Chamber wants to enhance collaborations with Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry in order to promote businesses and pave way for improved trade ties between the business communities of the two countries.
Mr. Wangxuemin, who led a high-level 13-member Chinese delegation during its visit to Karachi Chamber for Business-to-Business Meeting with their KCCI counterparts, added that they would like to have more of such B2B meetings on regular basis so that trade ties between the two countries could further be improved.
Vice Chairman Businessmen Group & Former President KCCI Tahir Khaliq, President KCCI Younus Muhammad Bashir, Senior Vice President KCCI Zia Ahmed Khan, Vice President KCCI Muhammad Naeem Sharif, Former President KCCI Iftikhar Ahmed Vohra, KCCI Managing Committee members and other businessmen from different sectors attended the meeting.
The Chinese delegation comprised of businessmen from numerous sectors including footwear, jewelry, luggage, auto parts, chemicals, furniture, electrical appliances, raw material, household goods, infrastructure construction and railway track tools etc.
Leader of Chinese delegation also invited Karachi Chamber to visit Shandong Chamber of Commerce in China in order to further strengthen ties and bring the two Chambers more close to each other which would help in collectively exploring new avenues of trade expansion and cooperation.
Earlier, President KCCI Younus Muhammad Bashir, in his welcome address, briefed the Chinese delegates about the strengths and functioning of Karachi Chamber which was not only the largest Chamber of Pakistan but was also ranked amongst top ten Chambers of the world in terms of membership base.
He said that Karachi, which is the economic hub of Pakistan, offers profitable investment opportunities and added facilities for investment and joint ventures to Chinese business community. The city, which contributes more than 65 percent revenue to the national exchequer, was an attractive place for Chinese investors, who can surely earn maximum profits by setting up their businesses or undertaking joint ventures here.
He was of the view that with improved law and order situation and upon completion of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and Gwadar Port, this region is likely to attract substantial amount of foreign investment and the Chinese business community can also benefit from the situation by investing or undertaking joint ventures in Pakistan, particularly in Karachi.
Commenting on Pakistan-China trade and economic relations, Younus Bashir noted that during 2015-16, Pakistan’s exports to China stood at $ 1.903 billion whereas the imports were recorded at $8.127 billion, indicating an overall trade volume of more than $10 billion which needs to be further enhanced and it can only be done through collective efforts.
He firmly believed that the completion of Gwadar Port along with CPEC would help in generating economic activity in Pakistan and would provide an important access route to the sea for China’s western regions, Afghanistan and Central Asian states. Gwadar has strategic importance for China as about 60 percent of its crude supply comes from Gulf countries that are in close proximity to Gwadar.
Besides the $46 billion CPEC project, the up-gradation of Karakoram Highway, Thar Coal Mining, up-gradation of Pakistan Railways and Power Generation Projects, both nuclear and non-nuclear, are some of the other key projects reflecting the expanded economic cooperation, he added.
President KCCI stressed that efforts must also be made to enhance linkages between the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Shandong Chamber of Commerce in order to pave way for improved trade relations between the two countries.
Interactive B2B session was held between KCCI members and Chinese delegates who, besides introducing their products and services, took keen interests in numerous products which were being manufactured locally.