LAHORE:Businessmen Panel (BMP) of the FPCCI here Saturday welcomed the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
investment in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) which provides another door of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into Pakistan.
BMP Chairman Mian Anjum Nisar said, "Saudi Arabia is the first country that we have invited to become a partner in the CPEC." Saudi partnership in CPEC was being viewed as a major boost Pakistan which was facing an economic crisis and critical balance of payments pressure. "It will help counter negativism about the CPEC emanating from India and the United States, and it also highlights the importance of Pakistan as the pivotal player in regional economic cooperation."
Anjum Nisar added that Kingdom was also expected to invest the mega oil city project in Gwadar which was important for Pakistan too. The 80,000-acres mega oil city at Gwadar would be used to transport oil from the Gulf region to China through the Gwadar Port. This would reduce the distance to just seven days from Gwadar to the Chinese border instead of the current forty days as well as cater to the needs of Pakistan, he maintained.
In response, he said, the CPEC would provide the Saudis an opportunity to participate even better in world trade traffic.
BMP Secretary General (Federal) and Former Chairman Standing Committee of the FPCCI, Ahmad Jawad said Pakistan
had come to play a pivotal role. The CPEC would be a virtual lifeline for China in the future, he added.
APP