BEIJING, July. 18: “In the current environment, the global supply chain has been continuously upgrading digitally, that is, achieving innovative and sustainable development, which is also a major responsibility that we need to shoulder together,” Chief Representative, National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) Beijing Office, Shaikh Muhammad Shariq said at Supply Chain Services Panel Discussion held during the 3rd China International Supply Chain Expo.
The Chief Representative pointed out that the key link is to provide very complete localized financial services and reduce conflicts between traders, which is crucial for both large leading enterprises and small start-ups.
“The global supply chain need and must take a diversified path, not only for industrial powers like China that support the global supply chain, but also for all countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative, and of course Pakistan, which is jointly developing the CPEC.”
When it comes to specific measures for supply chain optimization and innovation, Shariq emphasized the importance of better financing mechanisms and a unified framework.
“The optimized financing mechanism will allow us to have smoother capital flow and reduce our reliance on a single path, helping us to seek better financing strategies.”
The Chief Representative added that a unified framework means unifying standards within this scope, assisting different cultures, concepts, customs, and the like, to communicate more smoothly, which is the premise for all parties to build a global network. Through these measures, various countries could build a more efficient, more resilient and fairer global supply chain network. Talking specifically about the financial links between China and Pakistan, Shariq elaborated on NBP’s efforts to better integrate into the financial supply chain system between the two countries and the world. “As the national bank of Pakistan, we have branches in 80 countries worldwide. In 1981, we entered the Chinese market and opened a representative office in Beijing. Since then, we have been helping Chinese companies in different fields that are interested in doing business in Pakistan, such as energy, agriculture, e-commerce, digital technology.”
Shariq believes that for small and medium-sized enterprises, liquidity is their backbone in the process of engaging in cross-border business, thus nothing is more important than smooth financial liquidity. “From a deeper perspective, policymakers in China and Pakistan have established very deep connections to simplify all financial-related processes, assisting us to confidently provide comprehensive services in the current complex and changing international environment, solving financial problems, consulting problems, and of course the most important liquidity problem for enterprises. In a nutshell, a very stable supply chain ecosystem allows better cross-border cooperation between our two countries.”
