Aqeel Ahmed Chaudhary, 42-year-old Pakistani jeweler, communicated closely with entrepreneur friends from China and Pakistan, hoping to find opportunities for future cooperation during the third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation (BRF), held this week, which marked another milestone in the process of jointly building the Belt and Road.
This is his first time to attend the BRF. “I’m so happy to meet many old friends,” he said, “through this forum, I found Pakistani and Chinese enterprises are very active and confident in the future cooperation and the Belt and Road Initiative has brought us closer.”
Chaudhary is operating a traditional family jewelry enterprise in Pakistan. Since entering China in 2019, the company has participated in various trade fairs of China, with a steady increase on the sales of jewelry products by 30% every year .
At present, Chaudhary has opened two jewelry stores in Shanghai and Shenyang city, of which the unique jewelry products have been quite welcomed by local consumers. The annual sales of Shanghai store reach five to six million yuan every year. He also plans to open the third store in Beijing’s CBD.
“I discussed with some Chines famous platform enterprises such as Tiktok and JD during the forum and we have already reached some cooperation intentions, hoping to promote our jewelry products on the online platforms in the future,” said Chaudhary.
On the sidelines of the event, he also visited some business districts in Beijing to learn more about Beijing’s policies on the attracting of foreign enterprises. He also enthusiastically helped to introduce a Chinese entrepreneur friend to Pakistani political and business guests, hoping to help him open a feed processing factory in Pakistan.
“I also learned more about Pakistan’s plans to develop green energy and public construction projects during the activities of the forum, hoping to expand new business and make new friends,” Chaudhary added.
This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative and the launch of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor(CPEC). As the flagship project of the Belt and Road Initiative, the CPEC has achieved fruitful results over the past decade, laying a good foundation for Pakistan’s infrastructure connectivity and industrialization, and demonstrating to the world the strong vitality of the Belt and Road Initiative. At present, some key projects under the CPEC are making steady progress.
“The construction of the CPEC has been very successful and the cooperation has yielded remarkable results,” Chaudhary noted. In his eyes, the preferential policies of the industrial parks under the CPEC have attracted many enterprises to settle in, and have also brought many job opportunities for young people.
“Large Chinese enterprises entered Pakistan to systematically carry out construction, bringing a very healthy industry ecology for local Pakistani enterprises, including Chinese advanced experience, technology, supply chain, etc., providing Pakistani enterprises with more opportunities for cooperation and growth and progress.” Chaudhary said.
“The ‘Belt and Road’ has promoted the economic and social development of Pakistan, and as a company, we also hope to better cooperate with Chinese partners, integrate into the Chinese market and achieve their own development.” he noted.
After the epidemic, people’s consumption habits and consumer group are changing according to Chaudhary’s investigation, such as the jewelry consumer group become younger, and Chinese customers care more about the colored gems.
To face the new consumer trends, Chaudhary’s company has also made measure to adjust, such as designing some new jewelry products and paying more attention to the quality of products and high-quality services in order to win more Chinese consumers.
“The cooperation prospect between Pakistan and China is quite bright, and we are very optimistic about the potential of the Chinese market.” Chaudhary said, “I hope more and more young people can get involved in the bilateral cooperation, which will benefit the enterprises of both countries in the future.”
