Chinese vice president to arrive in Pakistan on Sunday

Agreements, MoUs to be signed during the three-day official visit, says Foreign Office

ISLAMABAD: Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan will arrive in Pakistan on a three-day official visit on Sunday.

While he will hold separate meetings with President Arif Alvi and Prime Minister Imran Khan, both the countries will also sign MoUs and agreements, and inaugurate projects to enhance bilateral cooperation in a broad range of areas, Pakistan's Foreign Office said in a statement on Friday.

The official statement said that the vice president's visit reaffirmed the all-weather strategic and cooperative partnership between Pakistan and China.

"The visit would reinforce the strength of bilateral ties and impart further impetus to the growing, multi-faceted cooperation between the two countries in diverse fields," read the official communique.

The visit, the Foreign Office added, was in continuation of high-level exchanges between the two countries, which have acquired an increased momentum since PM Imran's visit to China in November 2018 and his participation in the 2nd Belt and Road Forum in Beijing in April 2019.

Qishan is a member of 13th National People’s Congress of China and Central Foreign Affairs Commission, a key Foreign Affairs body of the Communist Party of China.

Bilateral relations between the two countries, which began in 1951, have reached high point with substantial Chinese investment in Pakistan as part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor project.

CPEC is a 3,000-kilometre network of roads, pipelines and railways to connect Gwadar port to Kashgar in the Xinjiang autonomous region of China.

The project intends to rapidly modernise Pakistan’s infrastructure, improve energy ecosystem and establish special economic zones.