ISLAMABAD
Finance Minister (FM) Senator Muhammad Aurangzeb has said Pakistan is all set to float Panda bond in Chinese capital market within next few weeks. This is a significant movement forward for further strengthening financial and economic ties between Pakistan and China. In an interview with China Global Television Network he said bilateral ties between Pakistan and China are becoming persistently robust , stable and diversified. These relations have not remained confined to only infrastructure but also are transforming into economic partnership based on broader market.
Dubbing China the biggest trade partner of Pakistan he said trade volume between Pakistan and China has reached about 17 billion US dollars during first 8 months of current year.
Pak-China ties are growing stronger since decades continuously. China has extended full-fledged support to Pakistan on every international forum.
Chinese role in Pakistan economic development particularly through CPEC has remained vital which is prominent project of belt and road initiative.
In the first phase of CPEC, focus was placed on the projects of roads, airports, ports , energy and basic structure. The second phase of CPEC has been started after high level meetings with Chinese president and Chinese Prime Minister during the current year.
CPEC Phase-2 is mostly based on business to business cooperation which is a clear movement forward towards durable development under the leadership of private sector.
To a question about Pakistan economic priorities he said agriculture, minerals, mining, artificial intelligence and digital economy are such sectors wherein Chinese investment is growing.
He held the cooperation at this phase is not limited to only investment but also special importance is being given to transfer of knowledge and technical assistance.
Thousands of Pakistani graduates have been given admission in Chinese universities so that they return to Pakistan after learning state of the art agriculture methods. It will help in modernizing agriculture sector and boosting production.
The two countries have not only forged unanimity on geographical and political priorities but also are agreed on long term economic agenda which will further fortify Pak-China all weather strategic cooperative partnership in coming years.
