ISLAMABAD: The Board of Investment and Chinese textile firm RUYI Shangdong on Friday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to set up textile parks of international standards in Pakistan to boost the country’s exports to $5 billion and create around 0.5 million jobs. The document was signed when a nine-member delegation of RUYI Group led by Chairman QiuYaf called on Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif here as a significant development regarding Chinese investment in Pakistan following the Prime Minister’s recent visit to China. According to the MoU signed at a ceremony witnessed by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, the Chinese company will set up textile parks in Sindh and Punjab provinces where about 100 Chinese textile firms will be invited to invest. Appreciating the time-tested Pakistan-China friendship, the Prime Minister noted that bilateral economic ties are getting stronger day by day. He welcomed China’s RUYI Group to Pakistan and appreciated its investment in Pakistan’s textile sector, recalling that the firm was the first investor in the Sahiwal coal-fired power plant established under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. During a briefing with the Prime Minister, the head of the company said that the textile parks aim to promote textile exports and make the country a textile and clothing center. To be powered by solar energy, the textile parks would be developed as zero-carbon and automated facilities that would increase exports to $2 billion in the first phase and $5 billion in the second phase, besides creating 0.3 million to 0.5 million jobs . The meeting was told that work on the textile parks would begin by the end of this year and would take another three years to complete. The Chinese company would also set up an entire sales commodity center in Karachi and Lahore. The meeting decided to form working groups in Islamabad and Beijing to further seek understanding. Prime Minister Shehbaz also formed a special committee under Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, consisting of Federal Ministers of Commerce, Investment and Privatization, Industry and Manufacturing, Foreign Secretary, Representative of the Board of Special Investments and Zafaruddin Mehmood. Chairman of RUYI Group said in the meeting that they did not come to Pakistan as an investor but as a friend. He also mentioned the speed of Shehbaz, referring to the speedy implementation of development projects during the tenure of Shehbaz Sharif as the Chief Minister of Punjab and also hoped for the same pace in the textile parks project. The meeting was attended by Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, Commerce Minister Jam Kamal Khan, Industries and Manufacturing Minister Rana Tanveer Hussain, Privatization Minister Abdul Aleem Khan, Power Minister Awais Ahmed Khan Leghari and other relevant senior officials.
