ISLAMABAD   -  Pakistan’s export of goods and services to China witnessed an increase of 40.01 per cent dur­ing the first six months of the current fiscal year (2023-24) as compared to the exports of the corresponding period of last year, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) reported. The overall ex­ports to China were recorded at $1481.499 million during July-December (2023-24) against exports of $1058.088 million during July- December (2022-23), SBP data revealed.

On a year-to-year basis, the exports to China also surged by 42.80 per cent from $180.643 million in December 2022, against the exports of $257.966 million in December 2023. Meanwhile, on a month-on-month basis, the exports to China decreased by 4.92 per cent during December 2023 as compared to the exports of $271.316 million in November 2023, the SBP data revealed.

Overall Pakistan’s exports to other countries witnessed an increase of 7.49 per cent in the first six months, from $14.222 billion to $15.288 billion, the SBP data revealed. On the other hand, the imports from China into the country during the months under review were recorded at $5782.371 million against $5849.382 million last year, showing a nominal de­cline of 1.14 per cent in July-December (2023-24).

On a year-on-year basis, the imports for China witnessed an increase of 29.51 per cent from $803.992 million in December 2022, against the imports of $1041.271 million in December 2023. On a month-on-month basis, the imports from China into the country witnessed a nominal increase of 3.78 per cent during December 2023, as compared to the imports of $1003.248 million during No­vember 2023, according to the data. The overall imports into the country witnessed a de­crease of 14.69 per cent, from $29.588 billion to $25.241 bil­lion, according to the data.

Meanwhile, Pakistan has a huge market and great potential and the country welcomes the Chinese enterprises to establish themselves in this promising market, a senior diplomat said.

“While opening up the local market, relevant enterprises can leverage Pakistan’s strategic location to expand into broader markets in South Asia, Europe, and America,” said Muhammad Aslam Chaudhary, Economic Minister at the Embassy of Pakistan in Beijing, in a meeting with Xiong Meng, executive vice president of China Federation of Industrial Economics (CFIE). Aslam Chaudhary highlighted the direction of Pakistan’s in­dustrial development and the corresponding preferential poli­cies for Chinese enterprises to invest in Pakistan. The CFIE has maintained long-term friendly relations with Pakistani indus­try and commerce organiza­tions. Pakistan’s Bureau of In­vestment is a founding member of the Belt and Road Industrial and Commercial Alliance initiat­ed by CFIE, according to Xiong.

Based on the strategic orien­tation of ‘building a new type of think tank, forging industrial synergy and strengthening in­ternational cooperation’, CFIE strives to advance China’s in­dustrialization, industrial tech­nological innovation, transfor­mation and upgrading, as per local media. The CFIE advocates promoting the development of industrial and supply chains from a global perspective. Xiong emphasized the importance of fostering international pro­duction capacity cooperation and highlighted the significant potential for collaboration be­tween China and Pakistan in projects, technologies, and mar­kets. The two parties stated that they will continue to communi­cate about potential coopera­tion and are eager to enhance collaboration between CFIE and the Embassy. This may include trade visits, jointly hosting in­ternational conferences, and facilitating Chinese enterprises’ investments in Pakistan, in or­der to work together for bilat­eral economic cooperation.