Reporting snapshot · 24 May 2026. This report reflects the prime minister's address and reporting published on 24 May 2026 and does not include later developments.
What happened
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif invited Chinese companies and entrepreneurs to relocate their industries and businesses to Pakistan and to enter joint ventures with local firms, describing the arrangement as a “win-win model” for both countries.
Addressing the Pakistan-China B2B Investment Conference on information technology and telecom, battery energy storage systems and agriculture in Hangzhou, China, on Sunday 24 May, the prime minister said labour in China had become expensive and that China was moving towards a very high level of industrialisation. He said the model would be “a roaring success in times to come, whether it is textile or leather or other areas”, according to his speech broadcast on national television.
Shehbaz said Pakistan imports about $100 billion worth of agricultural products and that he expected agricultural trade with China to grow by about $10 billion over the next five to seven years. He also pointed to a special economic zone of more than 6,000 acres near the port city of Karachi, saying it would offer modern infrastructure, a one-window operation and long-term leases on attractive terms.
The prime minister said Pakistan was seeking “expertise, experience, investments and not loans, not aid, not handouts”, arguing that aid never made a nation stand on its own feet. He said memorandums of understanding worth billions of dollars had been signed starting in Shenzhen and in Hangzhou, and that about 30 per cent had already been converted into agreements.
Why it matters
The address is part of a push to shift Pakistan’s economic relationship with China from borrowing towards investment and industrial relocation, as Islamabad works to expand exports and attract foreign capital. Pakistan has been negotiating with the International Monetary Fund over its budget and has been looking for investment to support its balance of payments.
Directing Chinese manufacturers towards special economic zones under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor framework has long been a stated goal, and the prime minister framed the Hangzhou meetings as a step towards converting earlier memorandums into binding agreements.
What remains uncertain
The prime minister did not announce new agreements signed on the day, and it was not clear which of the memorandums signed in Shenzhen and Hangzhou had been converted into contracts or what their value was. Details of the incentives offered to relocating firms had not been published.
Sources & reporting notes
This is a summary of published reporting, not independent reporting. Sources reviewed on 2026-05-24.
- Geo.tv — "PM invites Chinese firms to relocate industries to Pakistan under 'win-win' partnership model"24 May 2026 · Reports the Hangzhou address, the investment pitch and the terms described by the prime minister.
