China Thursday lauded the prudent economic polices of the government of President Pervez Musharraf, as a result Pakistan becomes one of the most attractive destinations for investment. This was stated by Chinese Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Cui Tiankai during a meeting with the State Minister for Information and Broadcasting Senator Tariq Azim Khan here. "The economic policies initiated by President Pervez Musharraf have given substantial boost to the economy of Pakistan and would continue to grow with fast pace", Cui noted.
The Chinese minister also eulogised the 'enlightened moderation' concept initiated by President Pervez Musharraf and said that it would surely establish a better and positive image of Pakistan across the world.
Senator Tariq Azim informed the Assistance Foreign Minister that Pakistan has devised very attractive and friendly economic policies as a result it become one of the major foreign investment destinations in this region.
He pointed out that our economy is growing over 7 per cent per annum and the foreign investors were given across the board facilities as a result Pakistan has received unprecedented Foreign Direct Investments in various sectors during the last six years.
He said that Telecommunication was one of the major sectors for attraction for foreign investment and China had also purchased one of the mobile telephone companies in Pakistan and pumping more investment in it to provide maximum better facilities to its customers.
He said that when the present government took reign of the country, its economy was on the verge of collapse, but now with the prudent policies introduced under the leadership of President Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan is one of the fastest growing economies in this part of the world.
It was the economic policies of the present government that Pakistan is no more replying on World Bank and IMF loans. The Minister said that the Free Trade Agreement, establishment of Pakistan China Investment Company, Five-year economic development programme, and setting up Special Economic Zones tailored for China would further boost the economic activities and the target of $15 billion trade set by both the countries would certainly achievable.
He expressed the hope that the Chinese investors would avail maximum benefits from these facilities by making large amount of investments in various fields. Senator Tariq Azim informed the Chinese Minister said the both the countries enjoy excellent relations in fields, but Pakistan wish to further strengthen People to people contacts for the benefits of both the countries.
He said that under a plan "China Week" would be celebrated in Pakistan and "Pakistan Week" in China every year during which both the countries would hold various activities to highlight sports, culture, tourism destinations, besides holding of musical programmes, photo exhibitions, screening documentaries, etc with the objective to bring people of the two countries more closure to each other. Both the sides on the occasion were in agreement to enhance their cooperation in the field of media and it was agreed for co-productions of documentaries.
The State Minister also informed that Pakistan would enhance its media presence in China by deploying correspondents from Radio Pakistan and Pakistan Television. Both the sides also agreed to share their experience in the field of media and exchange of media delegations on regular basis.
The Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister and State Minister for Information Tariq Azim also noted with appreciation that the Xinhua News agency would cooperate with its counterpart the Pakistan national news agency for provision of state of the art Multi Media Data Base for archive.
The Minister was very appreciative of the functioning of Multi Media Data Base during a briefing in which it was informed that Xinhua News Agency has preserved photos and other news related materials as old as 1901. Through the Multi Media software the Xinhua News Agency is also disseminating its news items in eight languages across the world.