Planning Minister vows to remove hurdles faced by Chinese investors

QUETTA: Federal Planning and Development Minister Ahsan Iqbal has convened a meeting of the authorities concerned on Monday in Islamabad to review the situation created by a Chinese company’s sudden announcement of closing all its operations in Pakistan and China as well as a factory in Gwadar.

The management of the company, Han Geng Group, issued a statement on Friday citing administrative, policy and other hurdles in running its business.

However, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and the planning minister took notice of the company’s announcement and immediately directed the authorities concerned to review its grievances and ensure their immediate resolution.

Mr Iqbal sent a clear message that all operational and bureaucratic hurdles faced by companies investing under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) would be removed on a priority basis to maintain investor confidence.

After the assurance and swift action, the Chinese company withdrew its announcement and decided to continue its operations in Pakistan and China.

In its announcement regarding the closure of operations, the company said the extreme decision was taken due to

“persistent non-market factors and administrative obstacles”, which had made it impossible to continue business operations.

According to the company, its facilities fully met strict China’s Customs inspections and international food safety standards. However, despite this compliance, it had “consistently failed to obtain the necessary approvals required for exports”.

For the past three months, the statement noted, the company had shown cooperation and patience at every level, but during this period it suffered heavy financial losses due to employees’ salaries, electricity bills, contractual penalties and container demurrage charges.

The company expressed serious concern that despite being part of major projects such as Gwadar Port and CPEC, it continued to face “challenges beyond the capacity of any private enterprise”. The statement identified “administrative uncertainty and hurdles in policy implementation” as the primary reasons behind the shutdown.