China and Pakistan signed a number of trade deals worth about 10 billion U.S. dollars, visiting Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said here Saturday.

Addressing the China-Pakistan Business Cooperation Summit in Islamabad, Wen said the deals reflected the huge potential for expanding bilateral economic and trade cooperation.

The two sides inked some 20 trade deals during Wen's visit covering projects in the sectors of new energy, agriculture, cotton yarn and non-ferrous metal imports.

A major deal is aimed at developing wind and solar power. Another one is on remote sensing satellite between the Pakistan Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission and the China Great Wall Industry Corporation.

"Currently, the existing difficulties in our trade cooperation are temporary problems, which we could completely overcome with joint efforts," Wen said.

The Chinese premier, who arrived here Friday, urged a boost in the scale of bilateral trade and investment. The China-Pakistan trade volume only accounted for one-tenth of Pakistan's overall foreign trade, he said, voicing his hope that the two-way trade could top 10 billion dollars as soon as possible.

With regard to trade imbalance, Wen said China understood the concern of Pakistan on the imbalance, and has taken measures to address the issue.

"China is ready to work closely with Pakistan to push forward the building of a bilateral free trade area in an all-round way, and gradually grant zero-tariff status to more Pakistani products," he said.

He vowed to send a trade and investment promotion delegation to Pakistan for purchase purposes at an appropriate time, hold commodity fairs for South Asian countries, and offer favorable terms for Pakistani products.

Calling trade cooperation a link for the China-Pakistan cooperation, Wen said the bilateral trade has witnessed remarkable growth and benefited both peoples.

Bilateral trade volume increased to 6.8 billion dollars in 2009 from 1 billion dollars in 2000.

Though affected by the global financial crisis and natural disasters, the two-way trade in the first 10 months of 2010 reached the total volume of 2009, an increase of 27 percent over the same period of last year, Wen said.

Source: Xinhua News