ISLAMABAD – *Pakistan China ‘Green Corridor’ project to greatly boostagriculture sector in Pakistan.*
The implementation of the newly agreed ‘Green Corridor’ project betweenChina and Pakistan would greatly benefit the agricultural sector ofPakistan, as more agricultural products from Pakistan can be expected inthe Chinese market.
This was stated by Zhou Rong, a senior research fellow at the ChongyangInstitute for Financial Studies at Renmin University of China. Zhou saidthat as China becomes the biggest importer of agricultural products in theworld, the rising demand will boost the agricultural sector in Pakistan.
“Key imports of agricultural products from Pakistan include rice andcotton,” Zhou said, quoted the *Global Times,* a Chinese daily.“Agricultural imports from Pakistan still account for a very limited amountof China’s total imports, but as the market grows and as production andquality inspection standards are standardized, more products from Pakistancan be expected in the Chinese market.”
However, in order to take full advantage of the project Zhou said thattransportation needs to be further improved apart from the simplificationof custom procedures. “Due to geographical conditions and extreme regionalweather, many products involved in bilateral trade are still airborne,adding to the cost of transportation,” Zhou said.
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Pakistani and Chinese customs administrations on Thursday principallyagreed to implement the ‘Green Corridor’ – a fast track customs clearancesystem exclusively for speedy clearances of the perishable agriculturalproducts, under the proposed Green Corridor at Sust-Khunjerab border.
The salient features of the Green Corridor which distinguish thisexpeditious customs clearance system include; firstly, the fresh fruit andother agricultural produce imports and exports will be cleared on priorityon fulfilling of due customs and import policy requirements. Secondly,there will be dedicated customs staff and separate shed/area for thehandling, examination, storage and clearance of such cargo. Thirdly, therewill be minimum intrusive examination, with more reliance on risk-basedselective examination and automated processing.
