Chinese Firm to Establish Textile Parks in Pakistan, Aims to Create 0.5 Million Jobs 

The Board of Investment and Chinese textile firm RUYI Shangdong on Friday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) under which the latter would establish 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 as a nine-member delegation of the RUYI group led by Chairman QiuYafu called on Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.   Under the MoU signed at a ceremony witnessed by the prime minister, the Chinese company would establish textile parks in Sindh and Punjab where around 100 Chinese textile firms would be invited to invest.   The prime minister lauded the time-tested Pakistan-China friendship and observed that the bilateral economic ties were strengthening with each passing day. He welcomed the Chinese RUYI group to Pakistan and lauded its investment in Pakistan’s textile sector, recalling that the firm had been the first investor of the Sahiwal Coal Power Plant established under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.    Briefing the prime minister, the company head said that the textile parks aimed at boosting textile exports and making the country a hub of textiles and garments.   To be powered by solar energy, the textile parks would be developed as zero-carbon and automated facilities to enhance the exports to $2 billion in the first phase and $5 billion in the second one besides creating from 0.3 million to 0.5 million jobs.   The meeting was told that work on the textile parks would start by year-end and would take another three years to complete. The Chinese company would also establish a wholesale commodity center in Karachi and Lahore.   The meeting decided to form working groups in Islamabad and Beijing to further pursue the understanding. The premier also formed a special committee under Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar comprising federal ministers for commerce, investment and privatization, industries and production, foreign secretary, a representative of the Special Investment Facilitation Council, and Zafaruddin Mehmood.   The RUYI group chairman told the meeting that they had come to Pakistan, not as an investor but as a friend.   Deputy Prime Minister, Commerce Minister Jam Kamal Khan, Industries and Production Minister Rana Tanveer Hussain, Privatization Minister Abdul Aleem Khan, Power Minister Awais Ahmed Khan Leghari, and other senior officials attended the meeting.