Sino-Pak trade could exceed 2015 target: Envoy

Beijing, Dec. 13 (ANI): Pakistan's Ambassador to China Masood Khan has said that trade between the two countries could exceed the 2015 bilateral trade volume target of 15 billion US dollars.

In an interview given to China's state-run Xinhua news agency, he said that total trade in the first nine months of 2010 had reached 6.2 billion US dollars, a 29-percent rise from the same period last year.

The Nation quoted Khan, as saying that if such growth continued, then over the next five years, trade could be as high as 18 billion US dollars a year.

Khan was speaking in advance of Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's visit to Pakistan later this month.

He said that Pakistan needed China's help in the agriculture, energy, finance, banking and science and technology sectors.

Premier Wen is scheduled to address a joint session of Pakistan's parliament, inaugurate the Pakistan-China Friendship Center and launch a new energy cooperation mechanism, Khan said. (ANI)