A delegation of senior Chinese officials will visit Islamabad next week to hold talks with their Pakistani counterparts exploring ways and means to enhance bilateral trade.
The delegation will be led by Assistant Commerce Minister Fu Ziying. The two sides will exchange their respective proposals and decide parameters of their economic collaboration during the next five years.
The official sources told newsmen here on Friday that it was decided during the recent visit of President's Pervez Musharraf to Beijing that the two countries would work out a comprehensive plan, giving clear-cut direction to their bilateral co-operation in the economic sector.
The two sides will also consider as how to remove certain difficulties and anomalies, being faced by the business communities in enhancing bilateral trade.
A long-term plan is also aimed at pushing forward the ongoing efforts to gradually correct the present imbalance of bilateral trade that is in favour of China. There has been upward trend in the recent years, improving the balance of trade position. Quoting the latest figures, the sources said in the first quarter of this year, Pakistan's export to China showed 38 percent growth.
According to the Chinese Custom Authority, the country's export between January and March 2006 amounted to 216 million. It was 156 million dollars in the corresponding period last year. Hence, the increase in Pakistan's exports in a period of three months was about 60 million dollars. There was a considerable jump in the export items like cotton yarn, cotton fabric, leather, PTA and seafood.
The Chinese side calculates the export figures on the basis of the origin of the exported items, including those coming to the mainland through Hong Kong and the Chinese financial calendar is from January to December.
Commenting on the future prospects of Pakistan's trade with China, Commercial Counsellor in Pakistan Embassy Shahid Mahmood said, "We are confident that the strong growth that we had in our exports to China last year would continue not only this year but in the future as well. Pakistan's export to China is likely to cross the one billion dollar mark by the end of this year."
The Customs Authorities had reported 832 million dollars Pakistan's exports to China during the year 2005.
Overall jump in the exports to China this year is likely to be over 300 million dollars, he said adding, there was a great potential for enhancing the export, particularly of valued-added textile products including cotton fabric, home textiles and towels. Chinese growing market also provides wide opportunities to Pakistani traders to enhance their export in non-traditional items like sports and engineering goods, handicrafts, marble, onyx, jewellery and agro-based products.
Pakistan's export has bright prospects to get further boost, with the reduction of tariff on a number of trading items under the Early Harvest Programme (EHP) that came into effect from January 2006. Shahid Mahmood hoped that the trade volume would increase in the coming months, when the list of export items to China would also include sports goods, surgical instruments, rice, mango and some other agro-based products.