China, Pakistan ink 23 MoUs for cooperation in industry
PM Shehbaz meets China’s Xi in Beijing ahead of IMF talks,
Pakistan and China have signed 23 Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) to deepen bilateral cooperation in multiple areas including transport infrastructure, industry, energy, agriculture, media, health, water, socioeconomic development, and other areas of mutual interest.
PM Shehbaz Sharif and Chinese Premier Li Qiang witness the ceremony
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Chinese Premier Li Qiang witnessed the ceremony as representatives from both sides signed the documents.
Pakistan and China signed agreements for the co-production of films, and news exchange and cooperation.
The MoUs were signed between Pakistan Television Corporation and China Media Group; on the feasibility studies of DI Khan-Zhob National Highway 50, Muzaffarabad-Mirpur-Mangla Expressway and Karachi-Hyderabad Motorway 9; and construction of a tunnel at Babusar on Mansehra-Chilas National Highway.
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Both sides signed a document on modalities for third party participation in China-Pakistan Economic Corridor; MoUs on re-alignment of KKH, agricultural cooperation, and anti-monopoly cooperation; an action plan on implementation of 2022 Industrial Cooperation Framework; a protocol on surveying, mapping and geo-information in scientific and technical fields; and a study on the establishment of an effective energy management system.
Two countries signed Letters of Intent for workshops on capacity building on governance, and industrial park development; and
handing over certificate for Pak-China Friendship Hospital in Gwadar and Desalination Plant in Gwadar.
Both sides also signed Letters of Exchange for the reconstruction of primary schools in Sindh; the Lady Health Workers Workstations project; and Junaco Cultivation Demonstration and Projection project; besides an endorsement of the agreement reached in the 7th Joint Working Group to enhance cooperation under CPEC.
Since his arrival in China on a five-day visit, the prime minister has met with Chinese investors and businesspersons to explore investment opportunities in Pakistan.”
In the meeting and events including a Business Forum in Shenzhen, he encouraged the Chinese companies to invest and develop joint ventures.
Several MoUs have also been signed with Chinese companies in economy, green energy, textiles, and manufacturing.
While.
China’s President Xi Jinping met Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in Beijing on Friday, Chinese state media reported, days before Pakistan presents its annual budget and applies for a new International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan.
Pakistan’s location on the Arabian Sea gives it strategic importance for China, providing an overland route out towards the Gulf of Aden and onto the Suez Canal, and enabling Chinese ships to avoid the potential chokepoint of the Malacca Strait.
Sharif’s government is expected to seek at least $6 billion under a new IMF programme after it presents its annual budget, which sources say will happen on June 10. And the $27 billion or so that Pakistan owes China, according to World Bank data, is central to this next round of discussions with the fund.
The IMF in May opened discussions on the new loan after Islamabad completed a short-term $3 billion programme, which helped stave off a sovereign debt default last summer.
Pakistan owes China almost 13% of its total debt,
Pakistan owes China almost 13% of its total debt, which was taken on to pay for infrastructure projects over the years and other types of spending.
Beijing has lent Islamabad almost twice as much as its second- and third-ranked multilateral lenders, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, to which Pakistan owes $16.2 billion and $13.7 billion respectively.
Chinese firms have also invested a further $14 billion in Pakistan since a new economic corridor connecting their countries was announced in the summer of 2013 as part of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s flagship Belt and Road Initiative, data from the American Enterprise Institute think tank shows. Most of that investment was made by Chinese state-owned energy companies financing fossil-fuel and nuclear power plants, as well as logistics routes under construction connecting Gwadar Port in the Arabian Sea with the Xinjiang region in China’s northwest.
