China to invest $15 billion in petrochemical industry at Pakistan's Arabian Sea port

ISLAMABAD: Chinese companies are ready to invest $15 billion in Pakistan’s petrochemical industry at the port of Gwadar, the investment promotion agency of Pakistan said on Sunday.
China has in recent years played a key role in developing the deepwater port on the Arabian Sea. Located in the southwestern province of Balochistan, Gwadar is at the heart of multi-billion-dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) infrastructure projects that began in 2013.
“Chinese companies would invest in the petrochemical sector in Gwadar, including the project of energy pipeline from Gwadar to China,” Board of Investment (BOI) secretary Fareena Mazhar told the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan.
She added that talks related to the projects were underway, as BOI is working on 50 reforms to create a conducive investment environment and improve the ease of doing business in Pakistan.
Chinese business leaders met Prime Minister Imran Khan in Islamabad last week and reposed their confidence in Pakistan’s “policy support and security,” months after a blast killed nine Chinese nationals working on a CPEC project in northwestern Pakistan.
In a statement after the meeting, Khan’s office said he would hold monthly meetings to “review progress regarding issues faced by Chinese investors.”
Last month, Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed announced Pakistan was formulating a strategy to improve the security of Chinese nationals and companies operating in the country.
CPEC has seen Beijing’s pledge over $60 billion for energy and infrastructure projects in Pakistan, central to China’s wider Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) to develop land and sea trade routes in Asia and beyond.

China to invest $15 billion in petrochemical industry at Pakistan's Arabian Sea port