Pakistan’s biodiversity to be optimized via agricultural cooperation with China: Syed Fakhar Imam
BEIJING, Nov. 19 (China Economic Net) – “Pakistan is a country with great biodiversity which needs to be maximally optimized. We should move towards exporting high value agricultural products,” Syed Fakhar Imam, Federal Minister of Ministry of National Food Security and Research of Pakistan, addressed a webinar on China-Pakistan Agricultural Cooperation and Prospects on November 19.
In order to tap agricultural cooperation potential under China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), the webinar was held by China Economic Net, in collaboration with the Institute of Peace and Diplomatic Studies (IPDS) and The Express Tribune, under the guidance of the Chinese Embassy in Pakistan and the Pakistani Embassy in China.
Syed Fakhar Imam, Federal Minister of Ministry of National Food Security and Research of Pakistan, addressed the Webinar on China-Pakistan Agricultural Cooperation & Prospects. [Photo/Wang Xiaotong]
“In the Chinese model, value-added agricultural products are now competing with the best in the world. Pakistan should also follow that trend,” Syed illustrated with Pakistani mango as an example. “Our mangoes are among the best of the world. We should develop various forms of mango products to raise its value.”
“Pakistan’s exports are about $23 billion, 60% of which are still based on cotton products. Unfortunately, due to severe climate change, we lost much of our cotton production. Last month we had abnormal rains which affected our production of wheat as well,” Syed pointed out the challenges currently faced by Pakistan’s agriculture sector.
Therefore, Pakistan is in need of cooperating with China on developing varieties that are resistant to climate change, diseases and pests. “China is in the lead of lifting cotton production. Pakistan’s cotton production used to be high but now we’ve been left behind. We should learn from China’s experience,” Syed said.
Earlier this year, Pakistan was attacked by locusts while the damage was minimal because of China’s help. “I would like to express my gratitude on behalf of the government of Pakistan to the Chinese government for their extraordinary generous support by providing us with a large quantity of chemicals to address the problems of locust threat,” Syed said gratefully.
According to Syed, some technical institutes for agricultural development are going to be established in southern Balochistan and possibly in southern Punjab as well.
“Given the new challenges and great opportunities under CPEC, technology transfer and private investment are coming in a big way,” Syed invited Chinese enterprises to invest in Pakistan’s agriculture sector to accelerate Sino-Pak cooperation.
（Editor:Fu Bo）
