Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has said that Pakistan can accelerate its pace of economic growth by benefiting from China’s experience, technology, and expertise, particularly in the fields of agriculture, information technology, and artificial intelligence.
According to sources, while addressing the Pak China Agri Investment Conference yesterday, the Prime Minister said that China’s rapid development offers valuable lessons for Pakistan, and that effective use of Chinese expertise and technical capacity could help Pakistan achieve in months what would otherwise take years. He said that Pakistan’s economy has moved out of the stabilization phase and entered a stage of sustainable growth, as reflected in declining inflation, a significant reduction in the policy rate, improved exports, and better overall macroeconomic indicators.
Calling agriculture the backbone of Pakistan’s economy, the Prime Minister stressed the need to increase productivity through modern farming methods, efficient water management, value chains, cold storage, and value addition. He said that China is providing advanced agricultural technology and training, which could play a key role in bringing transformative change to Pakistan’s agricultural economy.
The Prime Minister said that several business to business (B2B) and government to government (G2G) memorandums of understanding signed between Pakistan and China during 2024 and 2025 are now being converted into practical commercial agreements.
Highlighting human resource development, he said that one thousand Pakistani agriculture graduates have already been trained at Chinese universities and research institutions. After returning home, they will support farmers and help improve productivity and agricultural income.
Reaffirming his commitment to implementing CPEC 2.0, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif described it as an important platform for deeper economic cooperation and long term development.
He further said that Pakistan and China are celebrating 75 years of diplomatic relations this year, which reflects a time tested and strong partnership. Describing Pakistan’s large youth population as a major asset, he said that young people are being equipped with modern skills in agriculture, IT, and artificial intelligence to speed up economic growth.
Addressing the conference, Chinese Ambassador Jiang Zaidong welcomed Pakistan’s recent economic progress and said that GDP growth exceeded 3 percent last year, while it reached 3.71 percent in the first quarter of fiscal year 2026. He said that inflation has fallen to around 4 percent, the current account posted a surplus of 2.1 billion dollars, and foreign exchange reserves have increased to 21.2 billion dollars, reflecting improved economic stability.
The Chinese ambassador said that under China’s upcoming 15th Five Year Plan, cooperation will be further expanded, with priority given to the agricultural sector. Under this framework, the target has been set to increase bilateral agricultural trade to one billion dollars and to promote cooperation in modern agricultural technologies.
