ISLAMABAD: Chinese companies are ready to invest $15 billion in Pakistan’s petrochemical industry at the port of Gwadar, the investment promotion agency of Pakistan said on Sunday.
China has in recent years played a key role in developing the deepwater port on the Arabian Sea. Located in the southwestern province of Balochistan, Gwadar is at the heart of multi-billion-dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) infrastructure projects that began in 2013.
“Chinese companies would invest in the petrochemical sector in Gwadar, including the project of energy pipeline from Gwadar to China,” Board of Investment (BOI) secretary Fareena Mazhar told the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan.
She added that talks related to the projects were underway, as BOI is working on 50 reforms to create a conducive investment environment and improve the ease of doing business in Pakistan.
Chinese business leaders met Prime Minister Imran Khan in Islamabad last week and reposed their confidence in Pakistan’s “policy support and security,” months after a blast killed nine Chinese nationals working on a CPEC project in northwestern Pakistan.
In a statement after the meeting, Khan’s office said he would hold monthly meetings to “review progress regarding issues faced by Chinese investors.”
Last month, Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed announced Pakistan was formulating a strategy to improve the security of Chinese nationals and companies operating in the country.
CPEC has seen Beijing’s pledge over $60 billion for energy and infrastructure projects in Pakistan, central to China’s wider Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) to develop land and sea trade routes in Asia and beyond.
China to invest $15 billion in petrochemical industry at Pakistan's Arabian Sea port
https://arab.news/63p2h
China to invest $15 billion in petrochemical industry at Pakistan's Arabian Sea port
- Investment would include a power pipeline project from Gwadar port to western China
- Pakistan said last month it is formulating a strategy to improve the security of Chinese companies operating in the country
Pakistan president to visit Bahrain on Jan.13-16 to hold trade, defense talks
- Asif Ali Zardari will meet King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa and Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad
- Both nations have been seeking to deepen ties following a bilateral investment summit in May 2025
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari will visit Bahrain on Jan. 13-16 where he would meet King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa and Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al-Khalifa, the Pakistani foreign office said on Monday, adding the talks would encompass trade and defense cooperation.
Pakistan and Bahrain have maintained close diplomatic, trade, investment and defense relations and have lately been focusing on strengthening their cooperation in key economic sectors.
The Pakistan president’s visit will be focused on bilateral, regional and international issues of mutual interest for both nations, according to the foreign office in Islamabad.
“The visit seeks to reinforce Pakistan’s longstanding cooperation with the brotherly Gulf nation while expanding opportunities for collaboration in trade and economic partnership, defense and security, and people-to-people ties,” the Pakistani foreign office said.
The development comes amid increasing economic engagement between the two countries, following the Pakistan-Bahrain Investment Summit in May last year. Both sides signed contracts worth $13 million at the summit.
Bahrain is also home to a significant Pakistani expatriate community, a major source of remittances to the South Asian country and often highlighted by officials as a key pillar of bilateral relations.
