BEIJING: 182 tons of dried chili peppers from Pakistan arrived Saturday afternoon in Neijiang City, southwest China’s Sichuan Province. This was the first batch of imported dried chili peppers under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor Agricultural Cooperation Project.
The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor is an important pilot project of the“Belt and Road Initiative”. In 2022, the pepper planting agricultural industry demonstration and promotion project implemented by Sichuan Puji Holding Group Co., Ltd. in Pakistan was included in the first batch of agricultural projects of the “China-Pakistan Economic Corridor”.
Chili pepper, as a catering necessity in Sichuan and Chongqing, China, is deeply loved by consumers and has broad market prospects. In March 2023, Sichuan Neijiang and Sichuan Puji Holding Group Co., Ltd. launched the “China-Pakistan Chili Supply Chain” cooperation project, with the annual chili import volume exceeding 50,000 tons. On January 13, 2024, the first batch of imported dried peppers officially arrived at the Neijiang Bonded Warehouse and will gradually enter the Sichuan and Chongqing markets and radiate to the national market.
“We will take Neijiang City as our headquarters, continue to deepen industrial cooperation with Pakistan, expand the scale of pepper planting, expand sesame and other agricultural products, and strive to exceed 200,000 acres of agricultural order planting and promotion area this year, and accelerate the establishment of seed companies and processing bases within the year.” Sichuan Chen Changwei, chairman of Provincial Puji Holding Group Co., Ltd., said that more high-quality agricultural products from Pakistan will enter China.
Data provided by the Neijiang Municipal Economic Cooperation Bureau shows that in the past three years, trade between Pakistan and Neijiang has expanded from agricultural products to clothing, mineral products, medicine and other fields, and the total trade volume has exceeded 150 million yuan.
Neijiang City, located at the heart of China’s Chengdu-Chongqing twin-city economic circle, has actively integrated into the construction of the “Belt and Road” and the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor in recent years, strengthening economic and trade exchanges and cooperation with Pakistan and other countries along the “Belt and Road”. On the day when the first batch of imported dried chili peppers from Pakistan arrived in Neijiang, Neijiang City also signed a letter of intent for friendly cooperation with Multan City, Pakistan.( Source: Xinhua)