Pakistani president appeals for more Chinese investment

Visiting President of Pakistan Pervez Musharraf on Tuesday invited more Chinese enterprises to invest in Pakistan.

In his address at a Pakistan-China business forum, Musharraf described Pakistan's investment environment as "vibrant" and "continuously improving."

"Pakistan's economy grew by 8.4 percent last year. The year before that it grew by 6.5 percent and this year, despite the earthquake expenditure, we are sure we will grow by over 7 percent," said Musharraf.

He said Pakistan has a strategic location and serves as the region's energy corridor for China to access Southeast Asia, India and the Gulf region. Pakistan also has cheap manpower and one of the most favourable investment policies in the region.

He said the trade volume between Pakistan and China in 2005 grew by 40 percent from the previous year.

Chinese Minister of Commerce Bo Xilai expressed his respect to Musharraf at the forum, referring to him as "an old and good friend" of the Chinese people.

Bo also promised to accelerate the free trade area negotiations and make it convenient for Pakistani companies to invest in China.

Musharraf arrived here on Sunday for a five-day state visit to China at the invitation of Chinese President Hu Jintao.

More than 200 Chinese and Pakistani enterprises attended the business forum held at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in west Beijing. Dozens of the participating enterprises signed memorandums of understanding on cooperation at the forum.

Source: Xinhua