Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani has called for joint concerted efforts to make the economic relations between Pakistan and China commensurate with the level of political ties between the two sides. The Prime Minister expressed the hope that Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), the largest bank in the world, would soon open its branches in Pakistan and acquire equities in Pakistani banks to pave the way for increased trade and investment ties between the two countries.
The Prime Minister was talking to Madam Lili Wang, Senior Executive Vice President of ICBC, who called on him at the Prime Minister's Secretariat on Friday morning. The Prime Minister underlined that while bilateral ties had flourished in multi-faceted fields, co-operation in finance and banking sectors needed to be focused upon in the larger interest o long-term strong economic relations between Pakistan and China.
The Prime Minister expressed the hope that meetings of ICBC Senior Executive Vice President, during her visit to Pakistan with the Governor State Bank and other concerned senior officials, would be constructive and fruitful in making progress on both these counts. Madam Lili Wang commended the Government of Pakistan for making progress in the economic sector and noted that Pakistan had registered GDP growth of more than four percent in the first six months of 2010.