A CALL put out by three medium-sized chambers of commerce deserves careful consideration. Business leaders from Sialkot, Gujrat and Gujranwala recently met to issue a call urging greater disclosure on future plans for expansion of Chinese industry in the country, as well as the treatment they are receiving from tax authorities, especially in the matter of refunds. The community in these towns, that lie in the Punjab heartland so vital for electoral prospects of the PML-N in 2018, voiced apprehension about what future Chinese industry is being admitted into the country, and asked whether there are any reciprocal plans for Pakistani businessmen to be able to enter the Chinese market on equally favourable terms. All three towns are home to large industrial clusters, and at least one of them — Sialkot — is an export powerhouse. Most industry in these areas is small and medium enterprises, and labour is highly skilled. Once the business leaders from these towns start voicing apprehension about the direction in which domestic industry is moving, it is worth Islamabad’s while to listen.
The apprehensions are shared by many others in the business community, who are increasingly feeling that the government is largely unresponsive to their voice while making every effort to accommodate Chinese investors. It may be a positive sign for Pakistan that investors from China are willing to acquire long-term stakes over here, but it is necessary to determine what impact this is having on local industry. The chambers of these three towns feel that they have been left out of any planning for the induction of Chinese industry in Pakistan, and they are not alone in this. Would it not be better, they ask, if local industry leaders were consulted to see where better synergies could be formed, through technology transfer for instance that helps boost the productivity of domestic industry? Have they been consulted to see what opportunities they may find in China’s western regions that are in the process of industrialising? Does investment into Pakistan really have to be such a one-way affair?
The voice from the triangle of industrial clusters in Punjab’s heartland is part of a growing chorus of voices that are increasingly apprehensive about the attitude of the government towards domestic industry. Sialkot has been badly hit by the decline in exports, and any opportunities its business community can identify in China, with supportive deals that the Chinese are getting in Pakistan, could potentially lift its prospects. Much of the output of Sialkot, Gujrat and Gujranwala could realistically find a market in China’s western regions, which are geographically closer to Pakistan than they are to the industrial heart of coastal China. Perhaps the government should heed these voices, and see if it is possible for CPEC to be a two-way road.http://www.dawn.com/news/1305988/pain-in-the-heartland
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