CHINA is amongst the few friends who have always come to the rescue of Pakistan in difficult times. At a time when the government is scrambling to reach the staff level agreement with IMF for the release of next tranche, the Chinese side has yet again extended an assurance of continued support to Pakistan when its Charge D’affaires Pang Chunxue held a meeting with Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on Tuesday.
The Chinese top leadership and their envoys in Pakistan have always proved to be true friends of Pakistan. Charge D’affaires Pang Chunxue has been seen engaging actively with Pakistani officials with the aim to expand the bilateral cooperation in diverse fields. The Charge D’affaires’ recent meeting with the Finance Minister was important in the context that the IMF has asked Pakistan to ensure that its balance of payments deficit is financed before an agreement could be reached. We believe that Pakistani side would have discussed with Pang Chunxue the financing gap that Pakistan still faces. China has already rolled over two billion dollars and refinanced another one point three billion dollars in recent weeks. Separately, according to the “Disbursement Report March 2022” published by the Economic Affairs Division last week, China has provided $54.93 million to Pakistan in loans and grants during the current fiscal year. The way the Chinese side is open heartedly coming forward to help the country sail through these difficult economic times is something which will only further improve the image of China amongst the Pakistani people who already see the Chinese people with great respect and admiration for their very positive approach of shared prosperity. Given our close proximity, the potential of cooperation between the two friendly countries is immense. Whilst China has always shown the willingness to expand the cooperation, it is for our side to shun the lacklustre approach and work actively to attract investment from Chinese companies in various sectors, especially industries, IT and agriculture. This is the only way through which we can enhance our exports and come out of this embarrassment of spreading the begging bowl before the friends time and again. It is time to act and act fast to lay strong economic foundations.
