July 24, 2002	Wednesday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 13,1423

BEIJING, July 23: Pakistani commercial banks can set up their branches in China, after meeting the required terms and conditions, said a senior official of People’s Bank of China, Wang Yi.

He told APP here on Monday that the foreign banks including those from Pakistan are entitled to do normal banking business. He said China is gradually opening up its banking sector to the outside world, in accordance with the timetable set in the WTO agreement.

Pakistan banking industry envisages expertise and rich professional experience to compete with other foreign banks, he said, adding China and Pakistan have been cooperating in the banking sector in the past. Their Pakistani friends trained a number of Chinese bankers, he added.

Wang hoped that Pakistani bankers will come forward to capitalize their decades’ old friendly relations. They, he added, should immediately start fulfilling necessary legal and technical requirements to establish their branches in the major business cities, like Shanghai, Canton, Shenzhen, Chandhu, Xian, Urmuqi and Kashgar.

He was of the view that Pakistani banks can particularly attract good business in North West of China and Eastern China Coastal Cities since hundreds of Pakistani businessmen used to visit those places, doing import and export business.

Years ago, the National Bank of Pakistan had set up its one-man coordination office in Beijing. It is still working, but without transacting any banking service. Now, after China entry into WTO, it is hoped that the bank’s higher authorities in Pakistan would give a serious thought to the need of expanding their network in friendly country like China.

According to the existing rules, the banks can operate their service both in foreign and local currency. It may be mentioned here that by the end of 2001, foreign financial institutions had set up 214 representative offices and 190 business institutions in China, with combined assets of 45.2 billion US dollars. A total of 31 foreign banks have been ratified to deal in the local currency.—APP