China will increase its investment in Pakistan from $1 billion to $15 billion by 2012 while trade volume between the two countries by then will also triple from current $5.2 billion to $15 billion.

Chinese Ambassador Luo Zhao Hui stated this while speaking at a function on Pakistan-China trade at the Punjab Governor House. He, however, stressed the need of balancing the bilateral trade which was highly tilted in favour of China. He said Pakistan’s exports to China stood at $1.4 billion against Chinese exports of $3.8 billion to Pakistan.

He said the benefits of Free Trade Agreement between the two countries would be visible in the next five years. However, he advised Pakistani entrepreneurs to explore the Chinese market actively in order to bring a balance in trade between the two sides.

He said the Pak-China Investment Company established with an initial capital of Rs12 billion was different from other similar companies as the emphasis of the company would be on involving the private sector in joint ventures between the two countries.

Federal Finance Minister Dr Salman Shah, speaking on the occasion, pointed out that the Chinese Development Bank had a larger investment portfolio than the World Bank and said Pakistan should focus on obtaining assistance from that bank to accelerate its growth.

He said China could benefit from the low labour cost and young age of Pakistani workers, adding with Chinese assistance economic growth of the country could be further accelerated. He said the Chinese for mutual advantage of the two countries could exploit the demographic advantage of Pakistani population.

“Pakistan is well poised to become the sixth largest global economy in near future,” he said, adding the economic growth of the country would be further accelerated. Punjab Governor Khalid Maqbool said over 5,000 Chinese were working in Punjab and the government had made adequate arrangements to ensure their safety. He said Chinese were establishing the largest fertiliser factory of the country and work on widening the Karakorum Highway was being initiated with the assistance and cooperation of Beijing.

PCICL to facilitate development plan: The Pak-China Investment Company Limited (PCICL) was launched to facilitate the implementation of a five-year development programme between the two sides at the Governor House here on Thursday, adds APP.

Caretaker Federal Minister for Finance, Economic Affairs, Revenue and Statistics Dr Salman Shah was the chief guest while Punjab Governor Lt Gen ® Khalid Maqbool presided over the launching ceremony.

The PCICL is a joint venture between the China Development Bank (CDB) and Pakistan’s finance ministry and the company has become operational with an initial paid-up capital of $70 million to be increased to $200 million by 2009.

Dr Salman Shah said bilateral trade between Pakistan and China was $1 billion which would be expanded to $15 billion in the next five years and the PCICL would work to achieve the objectives of the five-year development programme. The primary objective of the five-year programme is to steer and promote rapid, stable and orderly development of bilateral trade and economic cooperation to broaden the scope to achieve a balanced trade and mutually beneficial results.


http://www.geo.tv/details.asp?id=14320

although trade can increase, it should be as even as possible

investment without a foreign market can create products that are consumed locally in a population that might be able to afford it

Adding to our domestic market is needed, particulalry in agriculture. Greater volume means cheaper prices which means more money in the hands of the consumer.

Yes that is critical, but lets also hope that they invest in industries that will help increase exports as well (and I'm sure they will).

6th largest???? Huh? I think there might be a mistake in that. We're not even close to being in the top ten.

http://australianpolitics.com/foreign/trad...economies.shtml

Hey buddy, that list is 5 years old from 2003.

i think it is probably a problrm with translation, we all know what journalists in Pak are like.

That is probably a target form the next x amount of years, rather than something we are on the brink of.

Pakistanis like to first attempt to make country then we destroy it ourselves, I read that $300 million worth of damage is done by riots in Pakistan some estimates say its over $500 million, loss in economic terms is bigger. Now for such a country like Pakistan $500 million is alot of money. For some reason no one care when we destroy ourselves everyone just joins in and none has insurance there. Look China and learn.

Salaam

This investment comes only 48 hours after BB's death, where China is pointing out that the economy of Pakistan must not be totally dependent by the West and not destroyed by the pro-Western people in Pakistan!

While some investments are being re-examined or cancelled, Chinese are the ones who will dominate the Pakistani market and gain more profit by any other investors... In the end, those who really are scared of investing in Pakistan are the ones who will loose it's foothold. As it's known in the US senate:
Winner takes it all!

Politically speaking, 'someone' wants to make the country so weak that it becomes the a very low and desperate slave to seek help from the West, instead of having a strong Chinese help and support 'spine', to get out of it's bad, desperate and dangerous situation...

And to that 'someone' China has one concept, policy and one legacy:

China has full faith, trust and love for Pakistan, whether you like it or not!

Jivey China!
Long Live China!
Wang Sooye!

I don't think any Pakistani wants this to happen, at least not those who are patriotic and love Pakistan. There is a very powerful "black hand" behind this sequence of events.
Do you recall a few months ago tens of thousands of buddhist monks were herded onto the streets of Yancon in Myanmar followed by days of riots and civil unrest? Chances are these were not spontaneous and isolated incidents.
The economic and property losses to Pakistan are great, no question about that. The important thing at hand is to get back to normal as quickly as possible and start producing again.
You can always count on China and the Chinese people to stand by you and come to your aid.

That was a beautiful post n' i agree with you. Well said

I don't know, I mean its entirely possible. Thats 4 years away, nearly a lifetime in economics.

Destruction also brings a slight upturn in local economies. I haven't looked at what kind of damage was done by the riots, but the destruction caused by the 2005 earthquakes caused many sectors of the economy (i.e. construction) to boom, until they returned back to normal. Real estate prices fell after the earthquake, but a few months later, they were back to normal.

Btw, I am not supporting the destruction, but am 99% sure that Pakistan can recover.


Thank you!