ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will attend a business-to-business (B2B) investment conference in Hangzhou today, Sunday, and meet the country’s top business leaders, his office said in a statement amid Islamabad’s push for deeper trade and investment ties with Beijing.
Sharif began the first leg of his four-day visit to China on Saturday, which is aimed at deepening economic and technological cooperation between the two countries. His visit also takes place as Pakistan and China recently marked 75 years since the two nations established diplomatic relations.
The Pakistan-China Business-to-Business Investment Conference will be held in Hangzhou on Sunday, focusing on the sectors of information technology, telecommunication, battery energy storage systems (BESS) and agriculture, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said in a statement.
“During the conference, cooperation agreements and memorandums of understanding (MoUs) between Pakistani and Chinese companies will also be signed and exchanged,” the PMO said.
“The prime minister will address the conference as well.”
The statement said Sharif will also meet with the heads of prominent Chinese companies in Hangzhou. The Pakistani premier will visit the headquarters of Alibaba Group, where cooperation agreements between Alibaba and the Pakistani government will be signed, the PMO said.
Sharif will also deliver remarks during the ceremony there.
“Later, the prime minister will conclude his visit to Hangzhou and depart for Beijing,” the PMO added.
The Pakistani premier oversaw the signing of cooperation documents between Pakistan and China on Saturday.
These included a memorandum establishing a sister-province relationship between Punjab and Zhejiang, as well as a document paving the way for a China-Pakistan Joint Technology Research Center at Hangzhou Normal University.
China is Pakistan’s key strategic ally and a major investor in the South Asian country. Beijing has pledged over $60 billion in investment as part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), an infrastructure and energy corridor that connects the Arabian Sea to China’s Xinjiang region.
