Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Wednesday said that Pakistan and China were “all-weather strategic cooperative partners.” Qureshi was chairing a preparatory meeting via a video conference with the Pakistani ambassador to China regarding the Prime Minister Imran Khan’s upcoming visit to the country. PM Imran is scheduled to visit China on his first official bilateral visit from November 1 to 5. During his visit, the PM will meet the Chinese leadership in Beijing and also visit Shanghai to participate in the First China International Import Expo as the guest of honour. During the meeting, the significance of the visit as well as the programme, meetings, agreements to be signed and their overall objectives were discussed. Emphasising on the importance of the visit, FM Qureshi said that Pakistan and China are “all-weather strategic cooperative partners”.
“The two countries are close friends, good neighbours and development partners. The bilateral relationship has withstood the test of times,” FM Qureshi said.
He added, “Regardless of domestic or international changes this close friendship has served as a model of state to state relations for other countries.”
The foreign minister further said that the bilateral relationship between the two countries has been strengthened, especially in the field of economics with the launch of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
“CPEC has added another important socio-economic development dimension to the bilateral relationship. The leadership of both countries has expressed strong desire and commitment to the successful implementation of CPEC,” he said.
The foreign minister continued, “The new government in Pakistan has pledged its complete support and commitment to the advancement of CPEC.”
“Pakistan considers CPEC as an engine for growth; a catalyst for economic development, and a platform for socio-economic uplift of the people of Pakistan. CPEC enjoys across the board political and institutional support in Pakistan,” he said. During Chinese FM Wang Yi’s visit, the two sides expressed their full support to CPEC and agreed to focus more on socio-economic development aspects of CPEC in the next phase.
Published in Daily Times, November 1st 2018.
