Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani on Wednesday invited Chinese businessmen to invest in Pakistan's Hydropower sector by building small and medium-sized dams. "Our energy requirements have increased rapidly and we are offering investment opportunities in oil and gas exploration and power generation sectors," Gilani said while addressing a gathering of Pakistani and Chinese businessmen at the round-table conference on Pakistan-China trade and investment co-operation here.
Gilani said Pakistan's energy sector was in dire need of improvement and there was an immense scope for co-operation between the corporate sectors of Pakistan and China. He mentioned that Pakistan also had the world's second largest coal reserves, and said it looked towards Chinese help and expertise to turn this reservoir into energy.
He said the government had taken a number of initiatives to promote and facilitate Chinese investment in Pakistan, including special preferential policies for Chinese investors, exemptions from duties and taxes and the development of special economic zones.
Gilani said Pakistan also offered vast investment opportunities in sectors like mining, engineering, automobiles, infrastructure development, health, education, telecommunications, agri-business and small and medium-sized enterprises. He said there were at present 120 Chinese companies working in Pakistan. He said Pakistan drew inspiration from China that presented for developing countries a model of economic and social development with a vision for a better world.
"We believe that by forging close co-operation, private and state-owned enterprises of our countries will be able to cement further the traditional friendship between Pakistan and China," he said. He congratulated the Chinese nation on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of its founding, and mentioned that Chinese economic miracle had a profound and positive impact on the world, particularly on Asia.
Gilani said China could help accelerate development, bringing about economic integration within Asia and it was well placed to assume a key role in ensuring peace and development. He said Pakistan-China partnership, spanning over five decades, was a model of harmonious relations and a living example of the Confucian philosophy of "Harmony without uniformity."
Gilani said China had always been a generous partner in Pakistan's development efforts, and mentioned monumental projects such as Karakorum Highway, Chashma power plant, Heavy Mechanical and Electrical Complexes, Gwadar Deep Seaport, as examples of outstanding co-operation between the two countries.
He said the government was committed to reinforcing Pakistan-China friendship by enhancing economic, defence, trade and cultural relations for the mutual benefit of the two countries. Director of China Council for Promotion of International Trade Jang also spoke on the need to strengthen Pak-China trade relations.