13 areas identified for Chinese investments

KARACHI: Pakistan has identified 13 areas in various sectors to seek Chinese investment during Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's upcoming visit to China early next month, The News learned on Thursday.

Apart from other areas, investment in the country's oil refining sector is the top priority in the list of areas to be presented at the Pakistan-China Business Conference on June 5, 2024, which will be addressed Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

The Pakistani delegation will brief Chinese companies on potential investment sectors, emphasizing the commitment of five major Chinese companies to invest in each of these 13 sectors.

The Pakistani delegation will include ministers and representatives of the country's private sector. According to official documents available with The News, the sectors identified to attract Chinese investments are related to various areas; the major ones include: refining projects, base metal refining and fertilizer/urea production from Thar coal.

These projects are large-scale naphtha cracking facilities; oil refining centers producing petrochemicals, plastics and other intermediate products; large-scale base metal refining units, in particular deep copper refining plants; manufacturing of solar cells and modules; large-scale synthetic yarn and fabric production facilities; iron and steel articles; and manufacturing of mobile phones, with greater value added in Pakistan.

Labor intensive sectors for offshoring such as textile, leather products, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, medical equipment, footwear and toy industries, agricultural food parks, electric vehicles, electronics, manufacturing of laptops and other home appliances, production of urea and fertilizers using Thar coal. gasification, semiconductor manufacturing, and information and communication technologies are also included.

For the briefing for Chinese enterprises, the government selected focal persons from public and private sector enterprises in the oil refining, base metal refining and fertilizer/urea production areas. The list of these individuals includes CEO of Asiapak Investment Limited Shaharyar Chishti; Wajeeh Ahmed, Director General of Pakistan State Petroleum Corporate Planning; among others.