18th China-ASEAN Expo: Our goods have strong competitive force, says Pakistan envoy to China

NANNING: Pakistan Ambassador to China, Moin-ul-Haque said on Sunday that Pakistani goods have a strong competitive force at the 18th China-ASEAN Expo especially the textile sector, which remains one of Pakistan's flagship products.

"Pakistan has already opened the market of China and ASEAN. These years, Pakistan's exports have recorded a new volume, exports to China are showing great momentum as well, and we hope that by the end of this year, we will have a new breakthrough, he said in an interview with China Economic Net (CEN).

Pakistan is one of the few countries which have a complete ecosystem of textile, from weaving to dyeing, making garments and clothes. "Textile is our strongest sector, so you can see the products from home textile to ladies' clothes are all showcased here," Ambassador Haque said while referring to Pakistani stalls set up at the Expo.

He said that the food sector in Pakistan is very important. Pakistan is one of the largest leading countries in production of wheat, rice, sugarcane, cotton as essential raw materials, which have made it one of the most competitive countries in the region. Now, the government is focusing towards industrialization to do value addition for these products.

Ambassador Haque said that the competitive commodity of Pakistan is milk products and added, "We are the fourth largest country as equal to China in milk production. Now we are focusing on also bringing a revolution in the dairy sector by doing value addition such as making cheese, yogurt and other products, then exporting to ASEAN, China, and even the whole region."

He also mentioned sports products as his favourite Pakistani goods, and he is proud that Pakistan is the largest producer of footballs in the world, and most world-class tournaments have assigned Pakistani football as their official football.

"Not only football, but we also make other sports goods like boxing gloves, motorcycle gloves, and so on," he added.

Ambassador Haque remarked that this is the second time that Pakistan has been invited to participate as a special partner country. "We were given this honour for two years continuously, which is unprecedented in the history of CAEXPO. In another sense, it is important because China and Pakistan are celebrating the 70th anniversary of our friendship this year. Pakistan's participation is dedicated to this milestone."

He expressed his pleasure to see such a beautifully designed pavilion and Pakistani products at Expo, which are very important export products of Pakistan. As many as 14 Pakistani stores, which are set up by Pakistani traders, are displaying these different products.

Ambassador Haque emphasized that CAEXPO is very important for Pakistan because it represents two large markets: "China, which is the second largest economy in the world, and ASEAN, which has become a very important trading block in the region, represents about 2 billion people and $18 trillion economy. Now these countries have set up RCEP regional cooperation partnership."

To a question, he said that Pakistan has a close friendship with China and ASEAN.

"Pakistan's presence and cooperation with China and ASEAN, provides our traders new opportunities to come here and use this platform to export to RCEP block. So, we think that this platform will help in building trilateral cooperation in trade and investments."

He said that Pakistan has already opened the market of China and ASEAN. Now Pakistan has FTA with China, and launched its second phase last year. In recent years, both Pakistan and China have opened their markets, and nearly 1,000 products are exported duty free.

In addition, the Pakistani government is also helping to promote trade and create an enabling environment for our traders to converge here and share their projects, and the results are clear and evident, he added.