Dozens of Pakistani and Chinese companies reached agreements of intent on cooperation in fields including artificial intelligence, new energy, and information technology at an investment conference in Hangzhou City, east China's Zhejiang Province on Sunday.
At the China-Pakistan Business-to-Business (B2B) Investment Conference's meeting area, a 1,000-square-meter hall packed with hundreds of negotiation tables was buzzing with activities from morning until dusk.
China has remained Pakistan's largest trading partner for over a decade. Through the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a flagship pilot project under the Belt and Road Initiative, the two countries have achieved fruitful results in energy, infrastructure and other sectors.
Now, both sides are working to build an upgraded "CPEC 2.0", with Pakistan having repeatedly expressed its willingness to expand bilateral cooperation from large-scale infrastructure projects into new areas such as digital connectivity, information and communications technology, and aerospace.
"We are working with two Chinese companies in Pakistan. Whether it's EV, whether it's the 5G technology, the 6G technology or autonomous cars or whatever or the AI, China is far ahead. China is extremely open, I would say, in this openness to Pakistan or maybe other developing country as well. I think China is not just for China. China wants the whole world to be peaceful, to be stable, to have a good economy so that everyone flourish," said Aamir Abbas, a Pakistani businessman.
"In mid-May, we established our digital economy headquarters in Islamabad, and we also have very clear projects in Karachi and Lahore. So, not only in e-commerce, but also in new energy and various aspects of the digital economy, Pakistan has introduced many incentive policies," said Qian Xiaojun, a Chinese business executive. A joint action plan released last year by the Chinese and Pakistani governments on building a closer China-Pakistan community with a shared future in the new era outlines that over the five-year period starting in 2025, the two sides will strengthen the alignment of the Belt and Road Initiative with Pakistan's development framework centered on exports, digitalization, environment, energy, and equitable empowerment, while jointly promoting talent cultivation.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif attended the investment conference in Hangzhou and witnessed the signing of several memoranda of understanding and agreements of cooperation between Pakistani and Chinese companies on inter-regional friendly exchanges, education, and trade. "So technology with these sectors in front is the aim for future. I've come here like for the last two years. I'm seeing there's a very big need. I think so Pakistan did not choose China right now -- we chose them long time back. You have done some successful stories for the whole world, so how better we can learn it -- just to partner more with and interact more," said Pakistan's Commerce Minister Jam Kamal Khan.
Sharif landed in Hangzhou on Saturday to begin a four-day official visit to China. He chose the eastern Chinese tech hub as his first stop in a bid to experience China's innovation-driven vitality first-hand.
Pakistani, Chinese companies reach agreements of intent on cooperation in AI, new energy, IT
