LAHORE: China’s decision to relocate part of its manufacturing sector to cost-effective locations should help Pakistan if the country can chalk out a strategy and train its labor according to the industry’s needs, said Wang Zihai, President, Pakistan China Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCJCCI).
During a think tank session held at PCJCCI premises on Wednesday, Zihai further added that China is witnessing an economic transformation, following Europe’s model of relocating parts of its manufacturing sector to economically viable places that offer skilled labor at cheap wages.
Ehsan Choudhry, Senior Vice President PCJCCI said that technical trainings should be provided to labor so that they can take advantage of China’s move. Pakistan can make its unemployed manpower effective in the current scenario by providing technical and factual training in industry-related work ambits.
He was confident that Pakistan can attract the Chinese manufacturing sector by developing a trained workforce for industries.
He termed this phenomenon a great industrial transfer, which has brought in plenty of opportunities. He further added that One-third of Chinese manufacturers for textiles, garments, shoes, and hats had already moved all, or part, of their production centers outside China.
Sarfaraz Butt, Vice President PCJCCI said that, around 40% of the major companies had planned to move factories from China to other locations, which include Vietnam, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Philippines. He added that Pakistan has the ninth largest labor force in the world, according to the labor force 2013-2014, clocking in at 57.24 million. Out of this 3.4 million people are unemployed, while many are employed in areas not relevant to their expertise.
Salahuddin Hanif, Secretary General PCJCCI pointed out that the export of quality manpower is the main driver in growth of remittances adding that the country has a 60% economically active population that can increase productivity if their services are properly utilized.
