A delegation of Pak-China Investment Company Limited (PCICL) on Wednesday met with top officials of the Punjab Board of Investment and Trade (PBIT) and discussed prospects of investment in the province. The team, led by the company's Managing Director, Cao Wen Jiang, comprised head of China Advisory Ms Liu Haining and Head of Corporate Finance Tariq Mahmood.
The PBIT side was led by the board's Vice-Chairman Dr Miftah Ismail, who was accompanied by the board's CEO Dr Sajid Yoosufani and other top PBIT officials. Among topics of discussion was the possibility of investment in alternative sources of power generation like wind and solar energy and energy generated from coal.
Highlighting Punjab's richness in agriculture, Cao said that it would be profitable for Chinese companies to set up plants in the province to produce food items made from major crops such as wheat, rice and maize. Dr Miftah Ismail pointed out that the province's dairy sector was also very profitable for investors. He also invited Chinese investors to invest in the province's mining sector, adding that the province was also very rich in reserves of coal and iron ore.
The IT sector also offered rich opportunities in the province, he said, adding that the Punjab government was annually buying 125,000 laptops for at least the next three years. A delegation of China International Engineering Company also visited the PBIT on Wednesday.
PBIT's top officials discussed investment opportunities in the mining and energy sectors, especially the prospects of investment in hydel and solar energy projects, dry coal gasification, coal water slurry and coal mining. PCICL is a Development Financial Institution (DFI) formed under initiatives undertaken by Pakistan and China for the promotion of trade, investment and economic growth in Pakistan. The Ministry of Finance represents Pakistan, while China is represented by China Development Bank (CDB), which in turn sponsors PCICL.