Chinese president Xi is making a $46 billion move in Pakistan (Business Insider, April 20,2015) China and Pakistan launched a plan on Monday for energy and infrastructure projects in Pakistan worth $46 billion, linking their economies and underscoring China's economic ambitions in Asia and beyond. China's President Xi Jinping arrived in Pakistan to oversee the signing of agreements aimed at establishing a China-Pakistan Economic Corridor between Pakistan's southern Gwadar port on the Arabian Sea and China's western Xinjiang region. The plan, which would eclipse U.S. spending in Pakistan over the last decade or so, is part of China's aim to forge "Silk Road" land and sea ties to markets in the Middle East and Europe. Xi, whose visit to Pakistan winds up on Tuesday, said it cemented an "all-weather strategic cooperative partnership" between the neighbors. Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said the corridor would transform Pakistan into a regional hub and enable China to create a shorter and cheaper route for trade and investment with south, central and west Asia and the Middle East and Africa. "Friendship with China is the cornerstone of Pakistan's foreign policy," Sharif said in a speech. The corridor, a network of roads, railways and pipelines, will pass through Pakistan's poor Baluchistan province where a long-running separatist insurgency, which the army has vowed to crush, will raise questions about the feasibility of the plan. China is also worried about Muslim separatists from Xinjiang teaming up with Pakistani militants. Although Xi did not refer to the issue in his comments on Monday, he linked economic cooperation with security in a statement the previous day. Pakistan, US agree to enhance economic cooperation (The News Pakistan, April 19,2015) WASHINGTON: Pakistan and the United States expressed satisfaction over the bilateral relationship between the two countries and agreed to intensify the engagements in the coming months to further strengthen and deepen bilateral cooperation in all areas. This was stated in the meeting between Finance Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar and the US Deputy Secretary of State Anthony Blinken at the State Department here. Ambassador Jalil Abbas Jilani and Secretary Finance Waqar Masood joined the Finance Minister. Recalling the recent high-level exchanges from both sides, especially the visit of Commerce Secretary Pritzker to Islamabad in March to attend the US-Pakistan Business Opportunities Conference, the two sides expressed satisfaction over the relationship and agreed to intensify
engagements in the coming months to further strengthen and deepen bilateral cooperation in all areas. Finance Minister Dar shared with the Deputy Secretary of State the important achievements in the economic sector that led to the upgrading of Pakistan s economic outlook in recent months. The significant decrease in inflation, growing foreign exchange reserves, stable exchange rate and shrinking fiscal deficit, Dar underlined, were the result of sound economic policies pursued by the government of Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif. Noting the significant improvement in the security situation in the country, Deputy Secretary Blinken stressed the need to continue building momentum on expanded trade investment and economic cooperation between Pakistan and the United States. The two sides also agreed that energy remains the vital area with immense potential for enhanced cooperation. In this context it was emphasized that the forthcoming meeting of the Working Group on Energy should review the entire range of collaboration to assist Pakistan in overcoming its energy deficiency. Federal Finance Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar also met President of OPIC Ms Elizabeth Littlefield and her team and discussed OPIC s programme portfolio and the projects in the pipeline in Pakistan. Dar apprised Ms Littlefield of the excellent economic recovery that was attracting investors to make new investment or expand operations in Pakistan. He said indicators like foreign exchange reserves, inflation, the discount rate and stock market index had markedly improved in the last 22 months and international agencies had acknowledged the economic recovery. He said the IMF Board has recently cleared the 6th review without any waiver and Moody s has also upgraded Pakistan s outlook from stable. He observed that in view of the renewed interest of investors OPIC can increase its presence in Pakistan and finance more projects especially in the energy sector. Ms Elizabeth Littlefield congratulated the finance minister over the successful review of EFF programme and improvement in rating by Moody s. She stated that Pakistan had staged a remarkable recovery in a very short span of time and the investors interest had evidently increased. Ms Littlefield informed Finance Minister Dar to look into some of the pending issues of its wind energy projects of 50 MW each. She said that though the size of these projects was not big yet it was clean renewable energy which will improve its energy mix. The finance minister informed Ms Littlefield that the government of Pakistan was working on the generation of 7,000 MW of electricity from hydel, coal, wind and LNG. He assured the president OPIC of all possible help in removing glitches in its projects which are in the pipeline. Dar apprised her about the import of LNG that will be used to produce electricity and asked OPIC to provide financing to US companies interested in these projects.
Ms Littlefield appreciated the idea and invited the government of Pakistan to identify projects on which OPIC can help. She also flagged utilising Pakistani-American diaspora for investment in various projects in Pakistan. Ambassador Jalil Abbas Jilani thanked Ms Littlefield on sending a representative who made a presentation before the Pakistani community during the first Convention of Pakistani-American community held at the embassy in October 2014. Meanwhile, addressing reputed think tank the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Washington on the Revival of Pakistan Economy and its Future Prospects, Ishaq Dar said on Friday that Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif has enunciated peace for development as the defining principle of Pakistan s foreign policy. Building a peaceful neighborhood and a rebalancing between geo-strategic and geo-economic priorities constitute the main pillars of this policy. Our government has embarked on resolute efforts to create a peaceful external and internal environment so that the core national objectives of economic development are achieved, Dar said. Ishaq Dar who is currently visiting Washington to attend the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) meetings said that on the economic front far-reaching initiatives have been taken by Pakistan with neighboring countries including enhancing bilateral trade, streamlining transit trade issues, increasing investment cooperation, strengthening connectivity through road and rail links and promoting energy collaboration. He told the participants of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace that the government is implementing a four point agenda as per its manifesto and focusing on energy, economy, education and elimination of extremism. Dar added that due to the sound economic policies of the government a GDP growth rate of 4.14 percent was achieved in the financial year 2013-14 which was the highest level during last 6 years. We have targeted our growth at 5.1 percent for 2014-15 and despite floods, and agriculture performance is satisfactory on account of better production of both the wheat and cotton crop. Large-scale manufacturing has started to show improved results, he said. Pakistan Business Day Conference to be held in Germany (The Nation, April 19,2015) Pakistan s Ambassador to Germany, Syed Hasan Javed called on the First Mayor of Dresden, Dirk Hilbert at the Town Hall here today and exchanged views on the bilateral relations between Pakistan and Germany. He briefed the First Mayor about the present status of Pakistan s economy, potential areas open for foreign investment ant its natural and human resources yet to be explored. He sought city
government s support and cooperation to promote relations between Dresden and Pakistan in the field of higher education, renewable energy and industrial machinery. He said that Pakistan with its excellent demographic ratio of youth and geographical location was poised to become one of the best growth points in Asia in the near future. Hilbert gave an overview of the history of the city, which was totally destroyed in the Second World War and its reconstruction in the post war era. He said that the city government of Dresden would extend all support to the Embassy in establishing contacts with the large industrial units, Small and Medium Entrepreneurs (SMEs) and educational institutions based in the State of Saxony. It was agreed in the meeting that the Pakistan Mission would organise a Pakistan Business Day conference in Dresden, the capital of Saxony State with the cooperation of the city government and the Dresden Chamber of Commerce and Trade in near future showcasing the potential areas of cooperation and investment to the business and industrial community of the Saxony State. Later on, the Ambassador visited the offices of the Dresden Chamber of Commerce and Trade and called on its Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Detlef Hamann. He also briefed him about the present status of Pakistan s economy and the various steps being taken by the Federal Government to accelerate the development pace in the socio-economic sectors of Pakistan. Dr. Detlef Hamann assured the ambassador that his organisation would extend all necessary support and facilitate the holding of a proposed Pakistan Business Day Conference in Dresden. G Five become first company to manufacture smartphone in Pakistan (Daily Times, April 20,2015) LAHORE: G Five Mobiles International Pakistan has become the first company to start smartphone manufacturing in Pakistan. Company s Pakistan President Abdul Rehman made this announcement on the eve of 4th anniversary of G Five Mobiles Pakistan. G Five Mobile International President Mr Jeff Zhang was the chief guest on this occasion while Operations GM Sohail Sheikh, Jamil Sadiq, Director Admin Brig (r) Allyas, Imtiaz Saleem and three teams of the company in Pakistan namely Alfa, Bravo and Charlie were also present at the grand ceremony held at PC Hotel.
Speaking on this occasion, Jeff Zhang said that the project further added to the Pak-China timetested friendly ties. On this occasion, flags of both the countries were waves besides playing national anthems of Pakistan and China. Political leaders including Khawja Salman Rafique, Ajasam Sharif, Majid Zahoor, Mian Marghoob Ahmed and Waheed Khan were also present. Addressing the ceremony, G Five Mobiles International Pakistan President Abdul Rehman said that four years have passed since he got the company in Pakistan, and with the grace of Almighty Allah, the company has attained number two position in Pakistan. Clearly we are on number two position, through our corporate social responsibility we gave Rs 0.5 million health insurance to our employees and accidental and theft insurance of mobile phone, which was a unique type of insurance in the country. On this occasion he also proudly announced that now G Five has become the first cellular phone being manufactured in Pakistan and this is a history in the making and will be remembered since long. He invited all the political leaders and other distinguished guest to jointly cut the ribbon to launch the mobile manufacturing. He said work on the mobile factory continued in the year 2014 and now they were manufacturing. China major potential market for Pakistani handmade carpets (The Nation, April 19,2015) LAHORE - China, the major potential market of Pakistani hand-knotted carpet, would help the carpet industry to enhance its competitiveness and tap the future market of China. This was stated by Pakistan Carpet Manufacturers and Exporters Association former central chairman Major (r) Akhtar Nazir Khan Cooki while talking to a reception held in honour of a ten member entrepreneurs delegation from the Qinghai Province headed by Mr. Yu Xiao, Director General Qinghai Provincial Commerce Department. The reception was also attended by the PCMEA Chairman Usman Ghani and senior vice chairman Qamar Zia. Major (r) Akhtar Nazir Khan Cooki stated that the visiting Chinese delegation had also visited the offices of FPCCI, LCCI, PBIT and Punjab Tourism Department to explore opportunities of joint ventures for encouraging economic activities between the two nations, besides inking a Memorandum of Understanding with the Pakistan Carpet Manufacturers and Exporters Association. PCMEA Chairman Usman Ghani said that to enable Pakistan to tap the emerging handmade carpet market in China, the delegation has offered research and development assistance to the producers of handmade carpet in Pakistan.
While highlighting key business opportunities available in Pakistan, Usman Ghani said there are ample opportunities available which can be put into practice and informed delegates that Pakistani businessmen are specifically interested in joint ventures relating to halal food products, agriculture sector, Rock salt, leather sector, handmade carpet sector, rice and dry fruit etc. Representatives of Chinese delegation, on this occasion said that they would be delighted to help the Pakistani carpet industry with its up-gradation, and thereby enabling it to tap the Chinese market. They said that China has already laid the foundation for establishment of a business development centre in Pakistan, to extend research and development assistance to the Pakistani industry. Senior vice chairman Qamar Zia said though Pakistan is also in favour of enhancing mutual trade, still it necessitates some foreign direct investment from China. He said that FDI worth around $ 868 million have flown into Pakistan from China over the past five years, and some $12. 8 million have flown in from Hong Kong. During last fiscal itself, around $125. 8 million and $ 80. 5 million came to Pakistan in FDI from China and Hong Kong, respectively, he said. He added that the trade volume between the two countries is expected to rise to $ 10 billion over the next two years. Last fiscal, trade between the two countries stood at $ 5. 72 billion. The delegation also visited Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry(FPCCI) Lahore office. Chairman and Vice president FPCCI Khawaja Zarar Kaleem welcomed the Chinese delegation. He said, Pakistan and China had good relations. He believed that with exchange of trade delegations the cordial relation between both the Countries would further strengthen the friendship of both the countries. He further said trainings and joint ventures willnot only increase bilateral trade but also support transfer of technology. On this occasion, Mr. Yu Xiao conversed that their proposed visit to Pakistan is to find out business partners in different sectors like halal food products, agriculture, leather, handmade carpet, rice and dry fruit etc. He invited Chairman and Vice president FPCCI Khawaja Zarar Kaleem in Qinghai Province for two upcoming events going to be held in year 2015, International Halal Food and Products Fair and China (Qinghai) International Carpet Exhibition.
China's cooperation to expedite Thar Coal project (Samaa TV, April 19,2015) KARACHI: A new era of development is set to dawn on the underdeveloped interior Sindh, specially Tharparkar, as inclusion of Thar Coal mining and power project in the prioritised energy schemes under the multi-billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) will help overcome financial challenges being faced by it. This venture will open not only unprecedented economic opportunities but also prove to be a panacea for energy shortages that are stifling economic growth. The exploitation of coal and power generation by coal-fired plants and related industries, according to some estimates, will generate thousands of direct and indirect job opportunities for both skilled and non-skilled workforce. The financial and technical assistance by China for exploiting the coal reserves, which are estimated at about 175 billion tonnes and spread over 9,000 square kilometers in the Thar desert, will mark a turning point for the economy and help ensure energy security and ultimately lead to self-reliance. The Sino-Sindh Resources Limited (SSRL) and the Sindh Engro Coal Mining Company (SECMC) are working on Block I & II of Thar Coal mining and power generation, as these energy projects have been included among the Early Harvest Projects of the CPEC making way for swift financing from Chinese financial institutions. The SSRL has recently reached an agreement with the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) for funding for the mining operations. Large-scale mining at Thar coalfield is likely to begin next month, according to media reports quoting the SSRL Chief Executive Officer. Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif and former president Asif Ali Zardari jointly performed ground-breaking of the Thar Coal power project last year. It was decided that in its first phase, a coal mining and power project with a capacity of 3.8 million tonnes per annum and 660 MW would be developed. Subsequently, the mine would be expanded to a coal capacity of 6.5 million tonnes per annum to support a 1300 MW power plant.in the second phase, it was planned to expand the mining project to 13.5 million tonnes and then to 19.5 million tonnes, with power generation capacity of 2400 MW and 3600 MW. Talking to APP, Khurram Saeed, former vice chairman of FPCCI's Committee on Alternative Energy, said that the inclusion of Thar Coal project in CPEC had solved funding issues and accelerated pace of work on it. He expressed the confidence that the implementation of this project would boost economic activities and ensure availability of cheap electricity, besides creating employment opportunities.- APP