ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday invited greater Chinese investment in Pakistan’s artificial intelligence, technology and industrial sectors, as Islamabad seeks to steer the next phase of its economic partnership with Beijing beyond traditional infrastructure projects.
Sharif made the remarks during a visit to the headquarters of IBI Corporation in Beijing, where more than 150 Chinese companies and business representatives attended a meeting focused on industrial cooperation between the two countries, according to a statement issued by the prime minister’s office.
Pakistan has increasingly sought to reposition the multibillion-dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative, toward industrial cooperation, technology, mining and special economic zones under what officials describe as the corridor’s second phase. The original phase of CPEC focused largely on highways, energy plants and transport infrastructure.
The renewed push also comes as Pakistan seeks to attract foreign investment to support an economy recovering from a prolonged financial crisis that forced Islamabad into a $7 billion IMF bailout program approved in 2024.
“Under CPEC 2.0, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Information Technology are among Pakistan’s four most important priority programmes that the government is pursuing on a fast-track basis,” Sharif said during the event, part of his visit to China from May 23-26.
The prime minister said Pakistan would provide “full support” and “every possible facilitation” to Chinese companies seeking to expand business activities in the country.
Sharif also highlighted investment opportunities in Pakistan’s special economic zones, including a planned industrial zone near Port Qasim in Karachi that he said would span more than 6,000 acres and offer modern infrastructure and facilities to investors.
He told participants Pakistan was also focusing on technical training and skills development for young people to support future cooperation between Pakistani and Chinese companies in emerging industries.
“Youth is our future and Pakistan-China cooperation would further strengthen through their close relations,” Sharif said.
China is Pakistan’s largest bilateral lender and biggest foreign investor, with tens of billions of dollars committed under CPEC since the initiative was launched in 2015. Pakistani officials hope the next phase of the project will generate more private-sector investment, industrial activity and employment after years of focus on energy and transport infrastructure.
"TRANSFORM OUR AGRICULTURE"
Separately, during an address at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences in Beijing after receiving an honorary professorship, Sharif invited the institute to take over the management of Pakistan’s main agriculture research center, calling the institution “dormant” and urging a Chinese-led overhaul to help modernize the country’s struggling farm sector.
Agriculture remains the backbone of Pakistan’s economy, employing more than one-third of the workforce and contributing roughly a quarter of gross domestic product. But the sector has long struggled with low productivity, water shortages, outdated research systems, post-harvest losses and limited modernization compared to regional competitors.
“The Pakistan Agricultural Research Center, I have to say with a heavy heart, is dormant,” Sharif said. “And if we have to build our future, if we have to empower our youth and really transform our agriculture, then our research centers have to be revitalized and bring in fresh blood to promote research and development.”
Sharif made an appeal for Chinese institutional involvement in Pakistan’s agricultural research system.
“I would like to slightly remodel his articulation that we want your great academy not to take the lead role to transform our research center, but to lead this great initiative and take over the management of this institution through a mutual contract and on long-term basis, if not long-term basis, on medium-term basis,” he said.
The prime minister said Pakistan wanted Chinese support to introduce modern agricultural techniques, research practices and technology to improve productivity and strengthen food security.
Pakistan has increasingly turned to China for agricultural cooperation as Islamabad attempts to reform a sector vulnerable to climate shocks, declining yields, water stress and rapid population growth.
Sharif also announced plans to send another 1,000 Pakistani agriculture graduates to Chinese universities for advanced training.
The initiative follows an earlier batch of Pakistani agriculture graduates sent to China under a government-sponsored training program aimed at improving expertise in modern farming, irrigation, seed development and food security.
Sharif linked agricultural modernization directly to Pakistan’s broader economic future and to the next phase of the CPEC.
“Yesterday, my meeting with Chinese leadership, with President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang, were most productive,” the PM said.
“We have reiterated to accelerate CPEC 2.0, and under this framework, agriculture tops the list.”
The prime minister described agriculture as central to Pakistan’s long-term economic transformation despite growing focus on technology and artificial intelligence.
“Of course, IT, AI are tools in our hands of today and tomorrow,” he said.
“But if we have to holistically transform our economy, it is agriculture. It is agriculture and it is agriculture.”
