Chinese companies to buy $ 210 mn worth of Pak goods

Trade between Pakistan and China received a further boost when a group of 12 Chinese companies signed agreements with their Pakistani counterparts in Islamabad, on July 19, 2007, to purchase $ 210 million worth of goods from Pakistan.

Representatives from the Chinese companies, including two that are in the world's top 500 companies -- China Minmetals Corporation and Sinochem Corporation -- held talks with Pakistani companies for the import of marble, chrome ore, leather, cotton yarn, celestite and guar bean, to China.

Trade between Pakistan and China has increased 20% in the past three years. In 2006, bilateral trade reached a record level of $ 5.25 billion.

The two countries also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on July 21, 2007, to set up a Pak-China Investment Company for cooperation in the trade, economic and investment sectors.

The five-year joint venture is part of a Pakistan-China Economic Cooperation Deal and will help develop infrastructure in the agriculture, manufacturing and mineral sectors, according to Dr Salman Shah, adviser to the prime minister on finance.

July 24, 2007