Islamabad, Oct 4 (IANS): Officials of Pakistan's Ministry of Commerce told the Senate Standing Committee on Commerce that China is interested in importing donkeys from Pakistan, Geo News reported.

During the briefing, officials maintained that China was a big market for exporting meat.

Dinesh Kumar, a member of the standing committee, said that China is asking Pakistan to export donkeys as well as dogs, Geo News reported.

Upon this, Senator Abdul Qadir said that the Chinese ambassador has talked about exporting meat from Pakistan several times. Pouring in his suggestion, Senator Mirza Muhammad Afridi said that since animals are comparatively cheaper in Afghanistan, Pakistan can import them from there and then export the meat to China, Geo News reported.

However, the officials of the commerce ministry informed the committee that due to the prevalence of lumpy skin disease among animals, their import from Afghanistan has been temporarily banned.

Aside from the topic of exporting animals, the standing committee expressed its concerns over the withdrawal of electricity subsidy given to five export sectors. In response to that, commerce ministry officials said that the issue has been raised before the Ministry of Finance to revert the subsidy as the export sectors are facing various difficulties.

The standing committee recommended that the government resolve the issue of electricity subsidy to the export industry as soon as possible.