| South Asia fair: China to provide 300 stalls to Pakistani exhibitors |
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| Thursday,February 12,2009 Posted: 13:55 BJT(0555 GMT) |
| From:Business Recorder Article type:Reproduced |
KUNMING (February 12 2009): China is ready to provide 300 stalls to Pakistani exhibitors in the upcoming South Asian Countries Commodity exhibition to be held here in mid 2009, said a senior official. "Chinese government attaches great importance to south Asian countries in bilateral trade, especially with Pakistan", the Director of Foreign Trade Division of Department of Commerce of Yunnan province Cheng Yongliu said in an interview.
The interview was arranged on the sidelines of the week-long plenary session of the 11th People's Congress of Standing Committee of Yunnan province that was kicked off on February 7 with the address of provincial Governor Qin Guangrong in, which he presented 2008 annual report and his government plan for 2009. It was for the first time that the foreign media had been invited to cover the provincial session of the People's Congress.
The objective of holding the fair is to provide opportunities to the south Asian countries to introduce their products in Chinese markets to help improve their trade imbalance, which is at present in favour of China. As a host city of the trade fair, Chen said that we are remained in contact with Pakistani side to ensure their maximum participation.
The 2009 edition of the exhibition will be concurrently held with famous Kunming Trade Fair from June 6-10. Our trade is based on three dimensions, the -- Foreign trade, Foreign Economy and Foreign Capital, he observed. He said that Yunnan province has long history of co-operation in diverse areas including trade as well as development of infrastructure in Pakistan.
In this connection he mentioned construction of water supply scheme in Karachi and Jinnah Highway Project. He said that negotiations were underway for well-equipped professional hospital in Islamabad. Cheng said that Yunnan exports chemical, industrial goods, raw material of laundry powder, agriculture products, tea, cooking oil, pharmaceutical products, etc to Pakistan.
A food-processing unit from private sector from Pakistan is functioning in Dali since 1990, he said. The bilateral trade, he pointed out has however witnessed an up and down trend, in this regard he stated that in 1996, it was $3 million, that jumped to $138 million in 2007, however the bilateral trade registered a decline last year as it was only $62 million.
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