Islamabad, Sep 20: The Chinese textile company RUYI Shangdong and the Board of Investment inked a Memorandum of Understanding on Friday. According to the agreement, RUYI Shangdong would build international-standard textile parks in Pakistan, increasing the nation’s exports to $5 billion and generating about 0.5 million employment.
Following the prime minister’s recent visit to China, a delegation of nine members of the RUYI group, led by Chairman QiuYafu, met with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and signed this deal. This is a significant development for Chinese investment in Pakistan.
The Chinese corporation would create textile parks in the provinces of Sindh and Punjab, where over 100 Chinese textile companies would be invited to invest, according to the Memorandum of Understanding signed in front of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
Noting that the company had become the first to invest in the Sahiwal Coal Power Plant, which was constructed under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, he greeted the Chinese RUYI group with great praise and praised its investment in Pakistan’s textile industry.
An agreement was reached by a Chinese company to establish textile parks in Pakistan with the goal of creating 0.5 million employment and $5 billion in exports.The CEO of the company briefed the prime minister on the purpose of the textile parks, which was to increase textile exports and establish the nation as a center for textiles and apparel.
The textile parks, which would be run entirely on solar energy, would be built as automated, zero-carbon facilities with the potential to boost exports to $2 billion in the first phase and $5 billion in the second, all while adding between 0.3 and 0.5 million jobs.
The group was informed that construction on the textile parks will begin by year’s end and take an additional three years to finish. In Karachi and Lahore, the Chinese corporation also planned to open a whole sale commodity hub.
It was determined at the meeting to establish working groups to pursue the understanding in Beijing and Islamabad. Under the direction of Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, Prime Minister Shehbaz also established a special committee that included Zafaruddin Mehmood, a representative of the Special Investment Facilitation Council, federal ministers for commerce, investment and privatization, industries and production, and foreign secretary.
The chairman of the RUYI group informed the gathering that they had traveled to Pakistan as friends rather than investors. In addition, he brought up the Shehbaz Speed, alluding to the swift completion of development projects under Shehbaz Sharif’s leadership as chief minister of Punjab, and expressed the hope that the textile parks project would move at the same rapid rate.
Attending the meeting were Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, Ministers of Commerce and Production Rana Tanveer Hussain, Privatization Minister Abdul Aleem Khan, and Power Minister Awais Ahmed Khan Leghari, along with other top officials.
