BEIJING (APP): Pakistan and China have agreed to intensify their efforts, developing their trade through old historical Silk Road.
As a step forward, the Chinese side established a border trade market with Pakistan to facilitate business activities between the two sides.
The market, covering an area of 1,700 square metres, is located at the Hunqrap Pass near the China-Pakistan border.
Officials from Kashi in Northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region said here that some preferential policies had been adopted to encourage business in the market. For example, business people are exempt from paying a tariff if their daily turnover is less than $360, said Chen Ji, vice-mayor of Kashi.
In partnership with Pakistan, the border trade market will be open every Tuesday and Wednesday. “In the future, we will take measures to improve policies and facilities relating to the market and gradually develop it into a free trade area between China and Pakistan,” said Chen.
Pakistan has also set up a Zakun International Trade Centre in Kashi, said Yilikun. The city is also planning to take advantage of its geographical position to develop a trade centre linking China to other Central Asian countries.
Meanwhile, China and Pakistan enjoy rich potential to expand their business deals, especially in engineering, chemical and agro-based sectors, said Cui Zhitao, a senior leader of the People’s Government of Yunnan Province.
This common objective could be achieved by enhancing frequent interactions among the business community, he said while talking to a group of South Asian journalists at the provincial capital Kunming. He said the Chinese leadership attaches great importance to its relations with Pakistan, especially in the economic sector.
“We are prepared to set up twin-cities relationship at the provincial level to explore new avenues of bilateral cooperation,” Cui said adding, “there is need of taking new initiatives to increase volume of bilateral trade.” His country, he added gives top priority to its relations with South Asian countries. The recent visit of Premier Wen Jiabao to the region has brought very positive results, promoting comprehensive partnership in various fields of common interest.
Another provincial leader Zhu Qizhong told APP that the Yunnan province had already a joint venture with Pakistan in the engineering sector. Some Pakistani businessmen participated in the international exhibition held in Kunming early this month. The Assistant provincial Governor Tang Lilu also visited Pakistan couple of months back and met the business community seeking to develop joint ventures.
He termed the exchange of maximum business delegations an effective tool to share the knowledge about each other’s business and products. He proposed that Punjab and Yunnan provinces can be declared sister provinces to maximize cooperation in all the fields.
According to the sources, there are many potential areas where joint efforts could earn positive results for both the countries, like iron and steel, copper, tourism, agriculture, pharmaceutical products and real estate. In order to enhance bilateral trade, the readily available products in Yunnan like silk, zinc, tin, tea and soybean can be imported and on the other side Pakistan has a number of agriculture products to offer.”
Another areas identified for Ynnan-Pakistan cooperation are the biotechnology and hydro-power sectors where the two countries can develop their cooperation.