ISLAMABAD, Aug 11 (NNN-APP) – Pakistani Prime Minister, Shehbaz Sharif, said that, Pakistan and China are working to further strengthen economic ties, particularly in the fields of agriculture, information technology, mining, and infrastructure.
Speaking to representatives of foreign companies operating in Pakistan, including from China, in the country’s southern port city of Karachi, Sharif said, economic ties between the two countries will further expand during the second phase of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
Sharif said, during his official visit to China in Jun, he toured an agricultural university and a research centre, spanning hundreds of acres of land in China’s Shaanxi province, emphasising that, if Pakistani graduates receive training from the institutions, they could help revolutionise the agricultural sector in Pakistan.
“Pakistan is an agricultural country, 60 percent of the population lives in rural areas, and we need to increase our agricultural production,” he said, adding that, last year Pakistan’s agricultural exports increased by three billion U.S. dollars in value, and are planned to rise by seven billion U.S. dollars this year.
Pakistan needs to adopt modern technology and methods to increase agricultural production, and China can be an important partner for Pakistan in achieving these goals, the prime minister said.
He added that, Pakistan and China will start joint ventures in the textile industry and agricultural production, during CPEC’s second phase, and these products will be exported to other countries.
Pakistan and China will develop a joint modus operandi in this regard, which will be equally beneficial for both countries, Sharif said.
Launched in 2013, the CPEC is a flagship project of the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative. It is a corridor linking the Gwadar Port in south-west Pakistan’s Balochistan province, with Kashgar in north-west China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. The project highlights energy, transport, and industrial cooperation in the first phase, and in the second phase expands to the fields of agriculture and livelihood, among others.– NNN-APP
