Agriculture plays a key role in Pakistan’s economy, Arif Alvi

President of Pakistan Arif Alvi has said that modern agricultural techniques of China can bring a revolutionary improvement in agriculture sector of Pakistan.

He was speaking at the inaugural ceremony of 5th CAC Pakistan Exhibition at Expo Center, Lahore on Thursday.  LCCI President Irfan Iqbal Sheikh, Senior Vice President Ali Hussam Asghar, Vice President Mian Zahid Jawaid Ahmad, Chairperson of China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) Madam Ma Chunyan, Convener LCCI Standing Committee on Agriculture Jawed Salim Qureshi, Convener Organizing Committee on CAC Nadeem Qureshi, Chairman Pakistan Crop Protection Association (PCPA) Jamshed Iqbal Cheema also spoke on the occasion while  former LCCI Senior Vice President Khawaja Shahzad Nasir, EC Members Haji Asif Sehar, Khalid Gojjar, experts and a large number of local and foreign visitors were present at the ceremony.

The President said that Pakistan wants to get benefit from the experiences of China in agriculture, harvesting and other agricultural sectors and definitely, CAC Pakistan Exhibition is paving way for this.

“Agriculture plays a key role in Pakistan’s economy and has an important contribution to GDP and employment”, Arif Alvi said and added it has a great potential to gain more benefits so the government is attaching great importance to this sector.

The President said that the joint ventures between Pakistan and China will bring Chinese researchers, agriculture experts and business community to Pakistan and when they join hands with Pakistani businessmen, our agriculture sector will get a boost. It will also help Pakistan to get rid of the issues of low production in agriculture sector and post-harvest losses. Arif Alvi added that investment can play a fundamental role in economic stability. Government is ensuring all possible facilities for ease of doing business to encourage local and foreign investors.

LCCI President Irfan Iqbal Sheikh said that well performing and high yielding agriculture sector is the need of the hour. Pakistan cannot do well without improving the performance of agriculture sector. For ensuring viability of economy and long term growth, it is necessary that all the sectors of economy pick up and complement each other to excel.

The LCCI President said that desperately require locally developed as well as imported solutions in the fields of fertilizers, pesticides, seeds, agriculture machinery and equipment etc. “We are glad that our Chinese friends who have developed cost effective solutions in these areas, are offering these solutions at reasonable rates to us. It is important to mention that these Chinese companies are gathering a lot of success on account of improving their standard and products range”, he added.

Consul General of China Long Ding Bin said that Pakistan and China have already initiated government to government cooperation in agriculture sector and CAC has provided an opportunity to businessmen of both countries to initiate B2B cooperation. He said that China is expanding its cooperation with Pakistan under different sectors including agriculture, and it wants to extend more cooperation.

Ms. Chanyan Ma said that Pakistan can ensure fast growth in agriculture sector by availing Chinese expertise and advanced technology. She said that 5th CAC Pakistan exhibition is a great achievement for the both countries.

It is pertinent to mention here that over 100 stalls have been placed by 68 Chinese and 50 Pakistani companies. They are exhibiting state-of-the-art technologies and solutions to improve productivity in agriculture sector.