President Xi felicitates Shehbaz on election as PM

Chinese Premier Li Qiang also sent a congratulatory message to the newly-elected premier

BEIJING:

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang on Sunday congratulated Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz's (PML-N) Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif on his election as prime minister of Pakistan.

President Xi Jinping expressed confidence that under the leadership of  Shehbaz and Pakistan's new government, and the united efforts of all sectors of Pakistan would be able to make new and greater achievements in the cause of national development and progress, according to the state-run news agency Xinhua.

He stressed that China and Pakistan should continue their traditional friendship, strengthen exchanges and cooperation in various fields, jointly build an upgraded version of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), continue to deepen their all-weather strategic cooperative partnership, build a closer China-Pakistan community with a shared future in the new era, and create more well-being for the two peoples.

Chinese Premier Li Qiang of the State Council also sent a congratulatory message to the newly-elected premier.

Shehbaz Sharif was elected as the prime minister for the second time after bagging 201 votes in the National Assembly earlier in the day. The magic number to clinch the office of prime minister was 169 votes.

Read also: PML-N's Shehbaz Sharif elected prime minister for second time

After the vote count, the Speaker National Assembly Sardar Ayaz Sadiq announced that Shehbaz obtained 201 votes while his opponent, PTI's Omar Ayub, got 92 votes.

Since no single party could gain a majority in the assembly, Shehbaz has become premier with the support of PML-N’s allies - PPP, MQM-P, PML-Q, BAP, and others.

The new government is faced with mammoth economic challenges. High inflation, unemployment, the ongoing IMF programme and possible engagement for a fresh IMF loan to improve the balance of payments situation, debt restructuring, framing a new resource-sharing formula between the Centre and provinces, National Finance Commission (NFC) and privatisation of loss-making state-owned entities await the new coalition government.

Running a coalition government itself would also be a challenge for the incoming prime minister.