President proposes 'trade triangle' of Pakistan, China and ASEAN

ISLAMABAD: President Dr Arif Alvi encouraged the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries and the Chinese businessmen to invest in Special Economic Zones (SEZs) as Pakistan's macro-economic policies have changed tremendously with an improved state of ease of doing business. The president also proposed establishing a "trade triangle" among Pakistan, China, and the ASEAN to maximise the quantum of intra-regional business opportunities.

In his virtual address to the 17th China-ASEAN Expo held in China's Nanning city on Friday, the president said Pakistan's stable macro-economic policies and ease of doing business offered an attractive market to both China and the ASEAN countries for trade cooperation in diverse areas.

The four-day CAEXPO themed "Building the Belt and Road, Strengthening Digital Economy Cooperation" kicked off in the capital of South China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region on Friday.

The expo hosted 11 high-level forums, over 160 trade promotion activities, and 229 booths for participants from 22 countries including Pakistan. Themed "Building the Belt and Road, Strengthening digital economy cooperation," this year's expo aims to deepen cooperation in trade, digital economy, science and technology, health and other fields to foster a closer China-ASEAN community with a shared future.

On exports to ASEAN and China, President Arif Alvi said, textiles, food produce including meat and vegetables, surgical goods, minerals and information technology could be the prospective areas.

The president also mentioned that Pakistan greatly learned from the experiences of China in establishing the SEZs, and invited the investors from ASEAN and China to explore Pakistan's business potential.

He mentioned that the second phase of Free Trade Agreement between Pakistan and China was in place since January this year, while Pakistan had a sectoral dialogue partnership with ASEAN with increased mutual cooperation.

"We want to do a feasibility where Pakistan, China and ASEAN trade triangle can come up as well as feasibility into a Free Trade Agreement between Pakistan and ASEAN," he said.

He said that Pakistan was making great progress after moving on from the original course of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, i.e. energy and infrastructure, to other areas of cooperation including agriculture, industries, and socio-economic reforms.

He said that despite the challenge of the coronavirus pandemic, Pakistan's economy strengthened, and its online businesses grew due to implementation of far-reaching economic reforms.

President Alvi recalled that China recently signed the world's largest trade agreement - Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership - with a number of countries and emerged as a reliable trading partner and economic hub.

He said that the CPEC had done wonders by turning Pakistan into an economic and strategic hub that provided an easy and fast route for transportation of goods from China and Central Asia to the sea.

Chinese President Xi Jinping also addressed the opening ceremony of the 17th China-ASEAN Expo and China-ASEAN Business and Investment Summit via video.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020