Photo: VCG

China is willing to welcome more imports from Pakistan, support investment of Chinese firms in the country and jointly expand poverty alleviation cooperation in the digital economy and e-commerce, among other fields, to promote bilateral trade to a new level, Chinese Commerce Minister, Wang Wentao, said on Thursday.

The remarks were made during video meeting on Wednesday between Wang and Abdul Razak Dawood, advisor to Pakistani Prime Minister on Commerce and Investment, according to a statement by China's Ministry of Commerce.

Wang said China is willing to share with Pakistan its experience on the development of industrial parks and strengthen cooperation under the multilateral framework, promote local economic and trade cooperation, and push bilateral relations to a new level.

China and Pakistan are all-weather strategic cooperative partners. Under the strategic guidance of the leaders of the two countries, both sides actively promoted the construction of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and successfully implemented the China-Pakistan Free Trade Agreement and the second-phase protocol, which effectively promoted the development of bilateral economic and trade relations, Wang said. 

China remains Pakistan's largest trading partner, and bilateral investment and economic and technology cooperation are booming. Especially since 2021, bilateral trade has continued to grow rapidly showing a good development momentum, Wang said.

Last year, trade between China and Pakistan reached $27.82 billion, a year-on-year increase of 59.1 percent. Chinese exports to Pakistan totaled $24.23 billion, a year-on-year increase of 57.8 percent, while imports from Pakistan were $3.59 billion, a year-on-year increase of 68.9 percent.

China is Pakistan's eternal friend and Pakistan attaches great importance to bilateral economic and trade relations between the two countries, said Razak Dawood, according to the statement.

It is hoped that the role of the bilateral economic and trade cooperation mechanism will be better utilized, the China-Pakistan Free Trade Agreement and the second-phase protocol will be well implemented, and trade and investment facilitation will be jointly promoted, Razak Dawood added.