Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has urged Chinese companies to shift industries to Pakistan, form partnerships with local businesses and take advantage of business-friendly policies, calling the proposal a mutually beneficial opportunity for both countries.
Speaking at the Pakistan-China B2B Investment Conference on IT, telecom, battery energy storage systems (BESS) and agriculture in Hangzhou on Sunday, he said rising labour costs in China and its transition towards advanced industrialisation had created new opportunities for regional cooperation.
The PM suggested that industries in which China was becoming less competitive due to higher production costs could relocate to Pakistan by setting up manufacturing plants, bringing machinery and collaborating with local entrepreneurs to produce goods for export markets.
He said sectors such as textiles, leather and manufacturing could particularly benefit from this partnership model, which he described as a long-term success strategy for both Pakistani and Chinese businesses. He highlighted the export processing zone in Karachi as an attractive destination for investment and joint ventures.
PM Shehbaz said that Pakistan possessed significant reserves of minerals and precious stones, offering major opportunities for cooperation in the mining sector. He noted that Pakistan’s economy remained largely agrarian and stressed the need for modern farming methods, mechanisation, improved seeds and higher crop yields.
He pointed out that China imports nearly $100 billion worth of agricultural products annually, while Pakistan’s contribution remained minimal. He said stronger cooperation could help Pakistan meet Chinese quality standards and significantly increase exports.
He stated that enhanced collaboration in agriculture could generate large-scale employment in rural areas, strengthen small and medium-sized businesses and boost value-added exports to China. He said that Pakistan aims to raise agricultural exports to China by around $10 billion within the next five to seven years.
He said IT and artificial intelligence held enormous growth potential, while special economic zones would play a key role in attracting investment. He said that a new special economic zone spanning over 6,000 acres was being developed in Karachi, where investors would receive modern infrastructure, streamlined business facilities and one-window operations.
PM said that Chinese investors would be offered land on long-term leases under favourable conditions and added that similar economic zones could later be established across Pakistan with Chinese cooperation.
He emphasised that Pakistan sought investment, expertise and technology transfer rather than financial aid or loans, saying sustainable growth depended on economic self-reliance. He noted that memorandums of understanding worth billions of dollars had recently been signed in Shenzhen and Hangzhou, adding that around 30 per cent of those agreements had already moved towards implementation.
