https://arab.news/p35z6
- Chinese investment and financial support have been key for the South Asian country’s struggling economy in recent years
- Since 2013, Beijing has also invested billions of dollars in projects in Pakistan as part of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor
KARACHI: The government in Pakistan’s southern Sindh province has invited Chinese businessmen to invest in electric-vehicle and waste-to-energy projects in the province, the Sindh chief minister’s office said on Tuesday.
The statement came after Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah’s meeting with a delegation of Chinese investors, led by Belt & Road (B&R) Group Chairman Wan Xiaowu, according to the Sindh chief minister’s office.
The Chinese delegation expressed interest in investing in waste-to-energy, wastewater treatment, desalination water plants, manufacturing of e-buses, and kits to convert patrol motorcycles on electricity.
“Government would provide all necessary facilities to the Chinese firms to set up their plants,” CM Shah was quoted as saying by his office.
He said the Sindh government would welcome Chinese public and private firms to invest directly in the projects of their choice or strike a public-private partnership with the provincial administration.
Both sides agreed to have another sitting with the provincial planning department and the investment board to select the projects so that work could be initiated, Shah’s office said.
In May this year, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif asked Pakistani officials to carve out a “comprehensive plan” for business-to-business (B2B) engagements with Chinese firms.
Chinese investment and financial support have been key for the South Asian nation’s struggling economy in recent years, including the rolling over of loans so that Islamabad is able to meet external financing needs.
Since 2013, Beijing has also invested tens of billions of dollars in energy and infrastructure projects in Pakistan as part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a major segment of China’s Belt and Road infrastructure initiative.
The corridor will connect China to the Arabian Sea and help Pakistan expand and modernize its economy through a network of roads, railways, pipelines and ports built in the country with Chinese loans. A flagship of the Chinese corridor is a deep-sea port at Gwadar in Balochistan.