On May 21, Ambassador Xu Xueyuan was invited to attend the forum on "Logistics and Exports in the New Era of Protectionism: Impacts and Opportunities" hosted by Panama's Financial Weekly, and delivered a keynote speech entitled "China-Brazil Economic and Trade Relations: Mutually Beneficial and Win-Win Prospects". China-Pakistan economic and trade relations are an important pillar of bilateral relations, which need to be observed in several contexts.

The first is historical comparison. China and Pakistan established diplomatic relations in June 2017, and the two countries are new friends, but economic and trade cooperation is growing rapidly. In 2016, bilateral trade doubled from US$6.38 billion to US$12.84 billion in 2024, and China's direct investment in Pakistan reached US$270 million in 2016 and US$1.4 billion in 2023, more than five times that before the establishment of diplomatic relations. China is the largest supplier of the Cologne Free Trade Zone and the second largest user of the canal. There are more than 200 Chinese enterprises in Pakistan, creating tens of thousands of jobs for Pakistan.

The second is the national endowment. There is a huge gap between China and Panama in terms of land area, population and economic aggregate, but the economies of the two sides are highly complementary. China is vigorously promoting domestic consumption and encouraging enterprises to invest overseas; China is the world's manufacturing and trading power, and is a major trading partner of more than 150 countries and regions. Panama has a unique geographical advantage in the world, and is an international shipping artery and regional logistics center; Pakistan has vigorously developed infrastructure, actively created jobs and improved people's livelihood. All this provides a huge space for China and Pakistan to expand economic and trade cooperation.

The third is the international situation. Pakistan is a major shipping country and plays an important role in multilateral institutions such as the International Maritime Organization. China actively supports the current Secretary-General of Pakistan in assuming his duties. Pakistan is now a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council, and China cast a crucial vote in Pakistan's election. In today's chaotic world, the momentum of anti-globalization is fierce. As developing countries, China and Brazil share common interests in maintaining an open and cooperative international environment, ensuring the stability of global supply chains and unimpeded trade, and should support each other and work together to oppose trade protectionism and economic self-interest.

There is no doubt that China-Pakistan economic and trade relations are mutually beneficial and win-win, which has brought tangible benefits to Pakistan. The good situation of China-Pakistan economic and trade relations has been achieved under the framework of the Belt and Road cooperation between the two countries, and the future is inseparable from the policy guarantee and financial support of this initiative. At present, China-Pakistan relations are generally stable, but they also face complex factors, and the source is neither China nor Panama. China sincerely regards Pakistan as a good partner and will not waver no matter how the international situation changes. We believe that Pakistan also regards China as a reliable friend. China and Pakistan need to continue to deepen economic and trade cooperation, but they also need to eliminate interference and move in the same direction.

Not long ago, the Fourth Ministerial Conference of the China-CELAC Forum was successfully held in Beijing, which charted the direction for China-CELAC relations in the coming period and achieved rich results. The two sides have reached more than 100 cooperation projects in the next three years, and China has announced 20 measures to support the development of Latin America, many of which are related to economic and trade fields. For example, the two sides will strengthen the synergy of development strategies, further promote high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, deepen cooperation in traditional fields such as infrastructure, agriculture and food, energy and minerals, and expand cooperation in emerging fields such as clean energy, 5G communications, digital economy, and artificial intelligence. China will import more high-quality products from Latin America and encourage Chinese companies to expand their investment in Latin America. In order to support the development of Latin American and Caribbean countries, in the next three years, China will provide 66 billion yuan of credit funds to Latin America, provide 10,000 training places in China, and implement 300 "small but beautiful" livelihood projects. China also announced a visa-free policy for ordinary passport holders from five Latin American countries, including Brazil.

Panama should and can fully benefit from such practical cooperation. The first is to expand two-way trade. China has never deliberately pursued a trade surplus, and welcomes more exports of Pakistani beef, pork, chicken, fruits, coffee, etc. to China, and will continue to certify Pakistani export enterprises. The second is to increase mutual investment. China will encourage Chinese enterprises in manufacturing, new energy, agriculture and other fields to invest in Pakistan according to its needs, so as to contribute to the local economic and social development. The third is to actively participate in the exhibition. China has sent large delegations to participate in the Panama International Trade Fair (EXPOCOMER) for more than 20 consecutive years, and this year there are as many as 89 exhibitors, the first of any country. The Chinese side will continue to organize enterprises to participate in the exhibition in Pakistan and expand to important exhibitions in the province. At the same time, we welcome more Pakistani sides to participate in exhibitions such as the Canton Fair, the China International Import Expo and the CIFTIS to expand business opportunities.

We look forward to working with all sectors in Pakistan to overcome difficulties and seize opportunities to improve the quality and increment of China-Pakistan economic and trade relations, inject stronger impetus into bilateral relations, and create greater benefits for the well-being of the people.(This article is from the official website of Seetao www.seetao.com. Reprinting without permission is strictly prohibited. Please indicate Seetao.com + original link when reprinting) Seetao.com Strategy Column Editor/Sun Fengjuan