LAHORE, Aug 25: A delegation from Hanan province of China on Wednesday reviewed prospects for starting joint ventures in agriculture, auto, information technology, pharmaceutical, cement, leather and other sectors in Pakistan.

The 21-member delegation, led by Hanan Governor Li Chengyu, visited the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Punjab Industrial Estate Development and Management Company and discussed investment prospects in different sectors with Punjab Industries and Investment Minister Ajmal Cheema and industrialists.

Welcoming the delegation at the Punjab Industrial Estate Development and Management Company office, Mr Cheema invited the Chinese entrepreneurs to invest in the Sundar industrial estate being developed near Lahore.

He said a special quota of plots had been reserved in the estate which would expedite the pace of industrial development in Punjab and create 600,000 new job opportunities.

Mr Chengyu said at the LCCI good investment opportunities were available in Pakistan in general and the Punjab in particular. Pakistan and China should promote joint ventures in agriculture, food processing, information technology, pharmaceutical and large scale truck manufacturing sectors.

He said Hanan had the fifth largest GDP in China and housed its 80 per cent leather industry which imported raw material from Australia. Pakistani business community could supply wheat and rice to the province, he added.

LCCI president Mian Anjum Nisar said bilateral trade between China and Pakistan was expanding. Pakistani exports had increased from $148.9 million to $244.3 million and imports from $395.3 million to $839.1 million during the past five years.

He stressed the need for a better marketing of Pakistani products in China for increasing exports and exchange of trade delegations between Hanan and Punjab.