Adviser to Prime Minister on Commerce and Investment Abdul Razak Dawood on Tuesday said the world’s second-largest mobile manufacturer ‘Xiaomi’ has ensured to start its smartphone manufacturing from Pakistan and also initiate joint ventures with local telecom players.
The Ministry of Commerce “Make- in- Pakistan” policy continues to show positive results, “We have been informed that Xiaomi, world’s 2nd largest mobile manufacturer has partnered with Airlink Communications to manufacture smartphones in Pakistan, the Adviser Commerce said this on his official Twitter account.
The MoC's "Make- in- Pakistan" 🇵🇰 policy continues to show positive results, We have been informed that Xiaomi ( World's 2nd largest mobile manufacturer) has partnered with Airlink Communications to manufacture smartphones in Pakistan.
— Abdul Razak Dawood (@razak_dawood) November 2, 2021
The Adviser said the initial production will be 2.5 to 3 million handsets annually. He informed that the production facility will be established in ‘Quaid-e-Azam Industrial Estate, Lahore.
The production facility will be functional in Jan 2022 and it will create 3000 direct/indirect jobs, he said. While he said that Pakistan’s non-energy import bill shrank by 12.5 percent in October 2021, i.e. by $624 million, compared to September 2021.
Razak Dawood said that this welcome month-on-month (m/m) decline comes after positive m/m growth in the previous two months, a testament to actions by the government and State Bank Pakistan (SBP) to curb imports.
Read more: Hammad Azhar hopeful smartphones sector will outshine automobile industry
Pakistan moving towards success
Important to note, Pakistan has opened up to other tech giants as well. Earlier, Abdul Razak Dawood announced that South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics, in a joint venture with a local company, will establish its TV line-up plant in Pakistan.
The joint venture is a vindication of the Ministry of Commerce’s “Make-in-Pakistan policy” for industrialization via rationalization of input costs and other incentives.
In July, the South Korean company had signed an agreement with Lucky Motor Corporation to begin manufacturing its phones in Pakistan.
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Samsung’s decision to assemble phones in Pakistan was an indication of the success of the Mobile Device Manufacturing Policy (MDMP) launched by the government in June 2020.
Courtesy: APP with additional input by GVS