BEIJING: Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar on Thursday asked the Chinese entrepreneurs to take advantage of the government’s friendly policies and set up labour-intensive industries in Pakistan.
Ishaq Dar said that the government under the economic reforms agenda was offering attractive incentives for investment in the country.
While addressing the Pakistan-China Business Roundtable Conference organized by the Pakistan Embassy, in Beijing, Dar said that the labour cost in Pakistan is very competitive and much less as compared to the current labour cost in China. Agriculture, textile, mining and Information Technology are the prime areas where there is a great scope to do business in Pakistan.
He said that the government has expedited the construction of special economic zones and offered attractive incentives for the establishment of different industrial units. The government has worked out 13 key areas that have great potential for the Chinese and Pakistani entrepreneurs to establish industry on an ownership basis or through joint ventures with Pakistani business people.
Dar said that Pakistan being at the crossroads of Central Asia, Southeast, and the Middle East provides an immense potential for the export-oriented industry.
He suggested that Chinese companies do value addition and export to all these markets which have almost one and a half billion population. The Chinese businessmen could enjoy preferential market access to major economies such as the European Union (EU), the Gulf, China itself and other countries which have free trade deals with Pakistan.
Business Opportunities in Pakistan
He further said that there are competitive and lucrative incentives, particularly in special economic zones, special technology zones, export processing zones, and Gwadar free zones. These are the four areas where Chinese businessmen could establish business with special fiscal and economic incentives.
Dar underlined that the process of privatizing certain state-owned enterprises could also be looked into from the business point of view. He assured the safety of Chinese nationals and institutions in Pakistan and said that the culprits of the Dasu terrorist attack would soon be brought to justice.
