13 areas identified for Chinese investment

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 learnt on Thursday.

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

The Pakistan delegation will brief Chinese companies about the potential sectors for investment with a focus on roping five major Chinese companies in for investing in each of these 13 sectors.

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

These projects are full-scale naphtha cracking facilities; oil refining centres producing petrochemicals, plastic and other intermediates; large-scale base metals refining units especially copper deep refining facility; solar cells and modules manufacturing; large-scale synthetic yarn and fabric production facilities; iron and steel articles; and cell phones manufacturing, with more value addition in Pakistan.

Labour-intensive sectors for relocation such as textile, leather products, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, medical equipment, footwear and toys industries, agriculture food parks, electric vehicles, electronics, laptop and other home appliances manufacturing, production of urea and fertilizer by using Thar coal gasification, semi-conductors manufacturing, and information and communication technologies are also included.

For the briefing to Chinese companies, the government has selected focal persons from public- and private-sector companies from oil refining, base metal refining and fertilizer/ urea production areas.The list of these people includes CEO of Asiapak Investment Limited Shaharyar Chishti; GM Corporate Planning of Pakistan State Oil Wajeeh Ahmed; among others.