Guangdong is a province in southern China. This province has several distinct characteristics: first, it had very close interactions with the outside world, especially with Southeast Asian countries throughout history, and is now focusing on economic cooperation with South Asian countries, including Pakistan; second, Guangdong took the lead in reform and opening-up, paying special attention to the research and development of new technologies in the fields of industry and agriculture; third, Guangdong's climate is warm, similar to Pakistan, and its new crop varieties and cultivation technology are very suitable for Pakistan.

Yuan Longping, a Chinese agricultural scientist, is the pioneer of hybrid rice research and development in China and is known as the "father of hybrid rice” in the world. China is also a traditional producer of soybeans and maize. For a long time, China has accumulated advanced planting technology and management experience, which it is willing to share with Pakistan.

China and Pakistan are countries which place great importance on agriculture. Pakistan's budget this year has substantially increased investment in agriculture, hence there is great potential for cooperation in agriculture between China and Pakistan.

In my perspective, water conservancy infrastructure construction is very important. There are two main things to be done: the first is to build reservoirs, and the second is to build hydropower plants. In this way, we can not only solve the energy problem, but also effectively deal with the seasonal water shortage problems of rivers and promote agricultural production. In this regard, Pakistan has a lot to do, and Guangdong’s enterprises can cooperate fully with Pakistan.

Another key area for growth is the deep-processing of agricultural products, which can bring enormous economic benefits. Why are developed countries rich and developing countries poor? This issue is closely related to deep-processing of agricultural products.

According to my study, the value of primary agricultural products with a value of 1 RMB can be increased by 3.72 RMB in the United States after deep-processing, while China can only increase by 0.38 RMB now, maybe even less in Pakistan. Therefore, China and Pakistan should work together to develop deep-processing of agricultural products.

Nowadays, agricultural products processing enterprises in Guangdong province are flourishing everywhere. There are 2,077 enterprises on the list of agricultural products processing enterprises association. The actual number is much more than that. The province has formulated the "Agricultural Processing Industry Development Plan (2018-2025)", which aims to achieve a total value of 1.65 trillion RMB by 2020.

Guangdong enterprises have advanced deep-processing machinery and excellent technology. They can invest in the deep-processing industry of agricultural products and create conditions for Pakistani agricultural products to increase value and open up international markets.

Currently, China is the world's largest importer of agricultural products, importing about US $130 billion of agricultural products annually, including about 40 billion for soybeans.

I strongly suggest that agricultural development zones along the CPEC be constructed. China and Pakistan can jointly produce high-quality agricultural products such as soybean, cotton, peanuts, grapes, olive oil, citrus, mango, pomegranate, and strawberry, and then export them to China, which has the potential to generate around US $12 billion a year for Pakistan.

(Cheng Xizhong, Special Commentator of China Economic Net, Visiting Professor at Southwest University of Political Science and Law, Senior Fellow of the Chahar Institute)