Pakistan, China enjoy bright prospects to enhance land route trade through the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.
The Xinjiang bordering Pakistan and the Muslim-dominated region boasts abundant natural resources with its unique geographic position can help in expanding trade with the neighbouring countries," said Zhang Ye, Deputy Director of the Region's Foreign Trade and Economic Co-operation Department.
"The success of the recently held Urumqi trade fair, which was also participated by the Pakistan businessmen demonstrated the important role Xinjiang plays in Chin's relations with Central Asia," he said in an interview to APP.
A Pakistani official who attended the fair said that Pakistan could be among the major recipients of the development, provided genuine and well established businessmen come forward to grab the opportunities.
"we also need to strengthen our transportation system for easy access to the areas," he added.
Pakistan hopes to get better tariff rates under the existing bilateral arrangements for the export of the Pakistani goods.
Pakistan needs to explore all avenues to develop its relations with Xinjiang, with maximum interaction among the businessmen of the two countries.
"Our huge trade deficit with China could only be overcome through the land route trade. In this connection, private sector has to play a major role, since China has adopted a liberal economic policy, after its entry into WTO," the official added.
The relevant institutions also need to take steps to check smuggling on the border to achieve the desired results, the official added.
Meanwhile, the Chinese side has said that they are prepared to co-operate with their neighbouring countries to check smuggling.
The full weight of Chinese law will be felt by smugglers as the country continues to fight, the scourge, said the officials of the General Administration of Customs.
Although the fight against smuggling has achieved remarkable results in recent years, there is still much work to do throughout the country.
It has been decided that efforts will continue to focus on smuggling activities in key coastal regions, the smuggling of key commodities and money laundering.
Law-abiding importing and exporting operations will become more standardised and the relevant laws and systems will be perfected.
In additions advanced technologies and equipment will be introduced to combat smuggling.
Large-scale smuggling has been effectively curbed since 1998, according to data from the Customs General Administration.
According to the Chinese customs authority, the Xinjiang registered 4.77 billion dollar in foreign trade in 2003, a 77.3 percent rise on a yearly basis, the largest growth rate in China, local customs figures show.
The total included 2.54 billion dollar in exports, up more than 90 percent from 2002, and 2.23 billion dollars in imports, up some 60 percent.
The launch of a new system for speedy cargo transport through customs, improved examination and quarantine services, and simplified entry procedures were the main reasons behind the big rise.
Comments
Comments are closed.