Chinese industry wants to relocate to Pakistan

[Salman]

ISLAMABAD Sept 27 (TNS): President Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum (PBIF), President All Karachi Industrial Alliance (AKIA), Senior Vice Chairman of the Businessmen Panel of FPCCI and Former Provincial Minister Mian Zahid Hussain says thousands of industrial units want to relocate to Pakistan to avoid the high cost of doing business.

The cost of doing business in Pakistan is less than China but the investors feel uncomfortable due to the judicial system, energy crisis, political uncertainty, law and order situation, inconsistent policies, infrastructure weaknesses and tendency to compromise investment for political concerns, he said. In addition, Alternate dispute resolution system is also a barrier to Foreign Investment.

Mian Zahid Hussain said that Pakistan is a natural ally of China and CPEC has pushed economic cooperation to new heights which have encouraged Chinese companies and if the government can address their concerns the process of relocation will start.

Relocation of Chinese units to Pakistan on a massive scale will be making unemployment and budget deficit in our country a history, he added.

The Business Leader said that presently many Chinese companies are relocating to Bangladesh, Vietnam and other countries but they are not coming to Pakistan despite the cordial ties between two nations.

Pakistan must improve its law and order situation, political environment and its infrastructure to make it acceptable for the Chinese investors which can attract so much of the investment in the country that can outshine CPEC, he claimed.

He said that there is a lot of difference between labour laws of China and Pakistan; therefore, the government can consider framing new laws for the labour that will work in the Chinese companies operating in Pakistan which will encourage investors of the friendly country.