RAWALPINDI, Jan 29: Shanghai Economic Technique Development Area Management Department (Setdam) Director Ye Li Xin said it was imperative for business leaders of China and Pakistan to explore new avenues of investment and trade and help each other in different ventures.

He was talking to senior executives of the Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (RCCI) led by its president Jalil Ahmed Malik in a meeting held here on Sunday.

Inviting Pakistani entrepreneurs, the Setdam director said the Chinese market had huge potential for Pakistani products.

He told the RCCI delegation that the business communities of two sides should learn from each other’s experiences.

“Shanghai has a lot of attraction for industrialists from Pakistan as the city is a highly populated industrial area of China with 1,500 industries of textile, information technology, telecom, heavy machinery and equipment.”

The director said we were paying more than $250 million per annum as tax to Chinese government besides putting huge share in the country’s economic stability.

He said Shanghai was the most powerful economic area of China having biggest airport and deep-seaport. It is growing fast and would become an effective economic zone of the world, he added.

He stressed the need for exchanging delegations and said business community of Rawalpindi should come to Shanghai.

RCCI President Jalil Ahmed Malik said the chamber had played an effective role in bringing Chinese business community to Pakistan, besides launching joint ventures with entrepreneurs from different regions of China. Pakistan, he said, was on its way towards economic stability and prosperity.

“We achieved the target of 8.4 per cent annual growth and crossed the export target of $12.1 billion last year despite major challenges,” he said.

Mr Malik hoped that this fruitful discussion would go a long way towards enhancing trade and economic ties between Pakistan and China.