ISLAMABAD - A delegation of China Merchant Group (CMG) visited Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry, led by its Director General Yuan Jianmin, and showed interest to partner with ICCI in organising Islamabad Expo.

He said CMG was the main player in bringing the first trade convoy from China through CPEC to Gwadar and it would play more effective role in such future activities. He said that CMG could join hands with ICCI in organizing the Islamabad Expo or could bring Chinese business community to participate in the said event to explore business opportunities with Pakistani counterparts. He said a delegation of China Council for Promotion of International Trade will also participate in an exhibition at Karachi in December this year.

Briefing about his company, Yuan Jianmin said that CMG was a leading state-owned conglomerate of China based in Hong Kong and was engaged in diversified businesses including transportation, finance and real estate. He said by the end of 2016, CMG had total assets of 6.81 trillion RMB under its management. He said CMG’s profits hit a record high since 2015 with revenue increasing 78% to reach 495.4 billion RMB and total profit growing 34% to 111.2 billion RMB. He said CMG was No.2 among all SOEs in China and it has been recognized as Level-A SOE for thirteen consecutive years and Excellent Enterprise for four periods.

Yuan Jianmin said that the Chinese companies were interested to participate in exhibitions in Pakistan to explore new opportunities for further strengthening bilateral trade and economic relations between Pakistan and China.

He invited ICCI delegation to China to hold further discussions for participation in Islamabad Expo.

Speaking at the occasion, Sheikh Amir Waheed, President Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said that ICCI was planning to organise Islamabad Expo in coming year to showcase the potential of domestic products to the local and international participants and desired that CMG should take active participation in the said expo that would help further strengthen business linkages between the private sectors of both countries. 

He said Pakistan and China have great potential to further strengthen bilateral cooperation in many areas and CPEC has created great potential for business collaboration between the two countries. He said that frequent exchange of trade delegations and active participation in exhibitions on reciprocal basis was the best way to explore new areas of mutual cooperation. Muhammad Naveed, Senior Vice President, and Nisar Mirza, Vice President ICCI, also spoke at the occasion and called for developing strong connectivity between the private sectors of Pakistan and China to exploit unrealized business potential between the both countries.