BEIJING: Ambassador to China Moinul Haque has expressed the confidence that Pakistan’s exports to China will double over the next three to five years as a result of increasing interest of local traders and companies in trading with China.

“China-Pakistan export and import trade is very promising. I can foresee that in the next three to five years, Pakistan’s exports to China, such a huge market, will be doubled. And there is an increasing interest of Pakistani traders and companies to trade with China,” he said during his visit to the 4th China International Import Expo (CIIE) being held in Shanghai.

The Nov 5-10 4th CIIE has attracted nearly 3,000 businesses from 127 countries and regions, according to China Economic Net.

After his visit to the Pakistani pavilion at the expo, Ambassador Haque said: “CIIE is a flagship expo of China, and I must give full credit to the Chinese government, especially President Xi Jinping. It was his idea to launch this expo. Pakistan has been a very active partner since the first CIIE. Our prime minister was a keynote speaker at the first CIIE. And since then, we have had our speakers and exhibitors regularly.”

Ambassador Haque said China is now Pakistan’s largest trading partner since the launch of the second phase of the Free Trade Agreement in January last year.

“Our exports are growing very fast this year. The overall bilateral trade has increased by more than 60 per cent. And Pakistan’s export to China has increased by 75pc which means that by the end of this year, we are going to have an unprecedented new record of bilateral trade volume,” he added.

Published in Dawn, November 8th, 2021