CPEC spotlighted as PM heads to China

Chinese envoy expects leaders to reach consensus on high quality development

ISLAMABAD:

Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan Jiang Zaidong has said that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s visit to his country would inject strong impetus to upgrading the all-weather strategic cooperation between the two friendly nations, according to a statement issued on Sunday.

Prime Minister Shehbaz will leave for China on Tuesday (tomorrow) on a five-day visit at the invitation of his Chinese counterpart Li Qiang. According to the Pakistani Foreign Office spokesperson, Shehbaz will visit the cities of Beijing, Xian and Shenzhen during the visit.

“[PM Shehbaz’s visit will] provide a constant boost to Pakistan’s economic and social development and send [a] strong signal of solidarity and cooperation between our two countries to the international community,” the ambassador said.

“The strategic communication between [the] leaders of the two countries guides our relations. Over the past 73 years, [the] leaders of the two countries frequently visited each other like close relatives. Under the strategic guidance of our leaders, [our] ironclad friendship stood the test of times.”

The ambassador expected the leaders of the two countries to reach new important consensus on high quality development of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

“[This is important] so that [Beijing] could constantly level up its pragmatic cooperation to assist [Islamabad] to achieve sustainable development and refresh the momentum for the future development of the relationship.”

Ambassador Jiang added that during Shehbaz’s visit, there was no doubt that leaders from both sides would reiterate the firm support for each other on respective core interests and major concerns.

The Chinese envoy highlighted that as a landmark project of the Belt and Road international cooperation, batch after batch of schemes had been launched, completed as well as put into operation under the framework of CPEC.

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He continued that these schemes had resulted in $25.4 billion in direct investment, 236,000 jobs, 510 kilometres of highway, more than 8,000 MW of electricity and 886 kilometres of core power transmission network.

The ambassador noted that in March after the general elections, President Xi Jinping sent congratulatory letters to President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz on taking charges of their new positions, highlighting that the two countries should jointly build the upgraded version of CPEC and an even closer China-Pakistan community with a shared future for the new era.

“[The] Pakistani leaders replied with gratitude, expressing their strong agreement with President Xi Jinping’s important opinion.” The envoy added that Shehbaz had written in a letter that the new government considered high quality building of CPEC as its core agenda and would spare no efforts in its implementation.

“It is against this backdrop that Prime Minister Shehbaz pays his first official visit to China, realising the [significance] of the first meeting between [the] top leaders of China and Pakistan since the new government came into office.”

The ambassador further said during this visit, Shehbaz would meet with Chinese President Xi, Premier Li Qiang and Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress Zhao Leji to exchange views on major subjects in the bilateral relations between the two countries.