The federal cabinet has granted approval of a special procedure of visa to facilitate the Chinese working on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and those who want to bring investment into Pakistan.
This special initiative has been take to ensure ease of doing business and facilitate foreign investors interested in bringing investments in the country. Under this initiative two years’ work visa would be granted to Chinese working on the CPEC projects within 48 hours, while their security clearance would be done in 30 days. For the people travelling under the CPEC business visa a separate immigration counter would be established at the airports. Separate desks in the Ministry of Interior and Pakistan’s mission in China would be set up to look into the applications for visas under CPEC.
This will be a great step towards encouraging investments in the country. According to the Chairman CPEC Authority Lt-Gen Asim Saleem Bajwa (retd), China is expected to bring more investment in the Special Economic Zones (SEZs) CPEC. Investments of round US $13 billion have already been made in various sectors under the mega project while an additional investment of US $ 12 billion is still in the pipeline. He revealed this while speaking at the opening of a textile mill established by a Chinese company “Challenge Group”. While posting on his twitter account Gen Asim Saleem Bajwa said “A huge export oriented textile factory put up by a Chinese investor providing 5000 jobs & is all set to expand, promising to create 20,000 (jobs).”
