Chinese group eyes setting up solar panel plant in Pakistan
Wire desk byline Sourced from Xinhua, Dawn, Arab News, Anadolu and Minute Mirror. Translated and abridged by the GSRRA Desk.
China’s Hebei Juhang Energy Technology Group has expressed keen interest in establishing a large-scale solar panel manufacturing plant in Pakistan to cater to both domestic demand and export markets.
A Chinese delegation headed by the Group’s Chairman, Wang Jianbin, accompanied by representatives of China-Pakistan Business Forum, met Minister for the Board of Investment (BoI) Qaiser Ahmed Sheikh, on Tuesday. The delegation conveyed its intention to invest billions of dollars in Pakistan’s solar energy and other high-tech sectors.
Welcoming the proposal, Mr Sheikh said it was “a great time and a golden opportunity for investment in Pakistan”. He highlighted the government’s commitment to improving the business environment, citing recent reforms launched by the prime minister to ease the doing busines processs, including the new single-window Business Facilitation Centre (BFC) process for business facilitation.
As part of its facilitation package, the BOI informed the delegation that the government is prepared to allocate 6,000 acres of land for investment. The minister also briefed the visitors on Special Economic Zones (SEZs), which offer various incentives, including a 10-year exemption from income tax.
Chairman Wang Jianbin meets BOI Minister Qaiser Ahmed Sheikh; proposes multi-billion-dollar investment in solar and high-tech sectors
Mr Sheikh noted that Pakistan is on a path to economic stabilisation, with the stock market index having risen nearly four-to-five-fold over the past year. He reiterated that sectors such as agriculture, solar energy, information technology, chemicals, and manufacturing offer significant growth and export potential for foreign investors.
The meeting also reviewed outcomes of the second edition of the Pakistan-China B2B Investment Conference held in Beijing in September this year, which resulted in agreements and joint ventures worth $8.5 billion across multiple priority sectors.
The minister reaffirmed the BOI’s commitment to supporting Chinese investors and called for expediting feasibility studies and joint-venture agreements.
He emphasised that Pakistan remains a strategic partner for China and welcomes high-quality, green-tech investments that will generate jobs and promote sustainable economic growth.
Reference Link:- https://www.dawn.com/news/1960261
Zamir Ahmed Awan is the founder and Chair of the Global Silk Route Research Alliance, a think tank in Islamabad. He studied engineering at Shanghai University in the 1980s, and years later he went back to China as Pakistan's science counsellor in Beijing, from 2010 until 2016, working on science and higher education cooperation between the two countries.…
