BEIJING, Dec 19: Chinese credit of $500 million will be available to Pakistan as soon its necessary terms and conditions are finalized.

“In this connection, the Chinese side is awaiting finalization of a draft agreement, which has already been provided to Pakistan,” said an official of Exim Bank of China.

He told APP here that Pakistani delegation was expected to visit Beijing to finalize the agreement. It would follow the visit of the bank’s president to Islamabad for formally signing the agreement.

The $500 million credit line will be provided to Pakistan on highly soft-term basis. The interest rate will be about 3.5 per cent. It would be utilized for a variety of development projects mainly in the private sector.

The credit was offered as a special gesture of goodwill by the Chinese government during the recent visit of President Pervez Musharraf to China. Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz, who accompanied the president, has already held initial negotiations on the draft agreement.

Meanwhile, Sirajuddin Aziz, a senior executive of Bank Alfalah Limited held meetings with senior officials of the Chinese banking sector, seeking their support to boost business activities in the country.

Talking to newsmen, he termed his meetings as highly successful promoting cooperation among the banking sectors. He assured that Chinese companies working in Pakistan would be provided necessary banking facilities in order to enhance their participation in socio-economic development of the country.

He hoped these companies would prefer to keep their deposits in Pakistani banks to enhance bilateral cooperation. Alfalah Bank, owned by Abu Dhabi Group of the UAE, has also invited Chinese bankers to open their branch offices in Pakistan.

Mr Aziz underlined the need of capitalizing the Sino-Pak political relationship for the country’s economic uplift. There should be regular high-level bilateral exchanges to give impetus to bilateral trade and economic cooperation, he added.

He said Pakistan banking industry envisaged expertise and rich professional experience to compete with other foreign banks. There are hundreds of Chinese bankers, who were trained by their Pakistani friends.

Mr Aziz said it was high time for Pakistan commercial banks to make roots in the Chinese market.—APP