A Pakistani businessman has hailed China's business-friendly initiatives and new policy that paved the way for foreigners in the eastern province of Zhejiang for long term work visas.

China is the world's biggest market that offers great business opportunities, Mohammad Arif told CGTN Digital on Saturday.

It also offers a secure environment for foreigners, with no law and order situation and online facilities that make business activities even more convenient, he added.

Arif is among four foreigners who received the five-year working visa in August from the administration of Yiwu city in the eastern Zhejiang Province.

"I am thrilled to have the long-term visa, becoming the fist Pakistani and member of the first batch of foreigners to get this visa," he said.

"My future is tied to China because of tremendous business opportunities here."

In a first, the Exit-Entry Administration of the Bureau of Yiwu's Municipal Public Security Bureau granted First Class work permit to four foreigners from Pakistan, Afghanistan, Jordan, and Iraq under the new visa policy.

Businesspeople were getting visas only for one year before this policy was announced. 

Arif said the local government had announced to issue the five-year permit to 200 businesspeople in a year.

The new policy has made living and doing business in China much more comfortable, he said.

''I can now focus on other aspects of my business and do not worry about visa renewal every year,'' he added.

Yiwu has the world's largest consumer goods purchasing center covering an area of 4.7 million square meters. It has 70,000 booths and sells 1.7 million goods of different kinds, according to a report by Pakistan's APP news agency. 

Over 400,000 overseas businessmen visit Yiwu annually, and over 13,000 foreign businessmen from more than 100 countries and regions live in the city, the report added. 

Arif, who is in China for 16 years, has praised the Zhejiang government for promoting business activities through various initiatives. 

The provincial authorities are also building an import pavilion, he said.

China announced 12 measures to make immigration and entry-exit applications more relaxed and more convenient for certain foreigners, Xinhua news agency reported in July.

Long-term visas and residence permits will be issued to foreigners doing business, working or studying in China to improve the country's business environment, it said.

China in the recent year issued 133,000 visas and residence permits to foreign entrepreneurs, investors, and technical and management specialists, Chen Bin, an official from the National Immigration Administration (NIA), was quoted by Xinhua as saying.

(Cover: Foreigners fill up forms at Beijing's Exit & Entry Administration Service Center, September 3, 2013. /Reuters Photo)