With his week-long China visit drawing to a close, Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari has used the trip to push for deeper industrial cooperation alongside several ceremonial engagements, as the two countries mark 75 years of diplomatic ties.

According to Gwadar Pro on Thursday, his stay in Changsha, the capital of Hunan Province, Zardari visited SANY Heavy Industry, a leading Chinese manufacturer of heavy equipment.

His interest in Chinese manufacturing was clear. According to a video released by Xinhua, Zardari - after viewing high-tech equipment, including unmanned counterbalanced forklifts - said, "I’d like to get an agency to manufacture it in Pakistan."

He even joked, “Why haven’t you been invited to Pakistan?” - a lighthearted suggestion that he would gladly take the equipment home.

From heavy machinery, he turned to agribusiness, touring Hunan Tea Group and noting opportunities for cooperation in value addition, agro-processing, and export development.

He invited the company to explore collaboration with Pakistan in these fields.

That interest soon bore fruit. Zardari witnessed the signing of three memorandums of understanding (MoUs) focused on seawater desalination in Karachi, agricultural technology and tea sector cooperation, underscoring continued Pakistan-China engagement in these priority sectors.

Under the agreements, Meskay & Femtee Trading Company partnered with Hunan Tea Group and Jiaolong International Technology (Hainan) to boost cooperation in the tea supply chain.

Separately, the Sindh government signed separate agreements with Lucion Environmental Technology Group for a seawater desalination project in Karachi and with Long Ping Hi-tech Information Company on agricultural technology.

Factory tours and MoUs in Changsha then matured into a strategic investment call in Sanya, a shift from the concrete to the visionary.

While in Sanya, Hainan Province, President Zardari said Pakistan is actively encouraging foreign investment in key sectors - water treatment, electric vehicle battery systems, and alternative energy.

He also pledged that the Sindh government would facilitate foreign investors, particularly under public-private partnership frameworks.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP) — Pak-China