Islamabad:
Chinese ambassador to Pakistan Jiang Zaidong has confirmed Peking’s obligation to accelerate the building of “an even closer China-Pakistan community with a shared future in the new era”, after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s official visit to China from September 30, September 4.
At invitation from President Xi Jinping, Prime Minister Shehbaz attended the 25th meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and the memorial of the 80th anniversary of the victory for the Chinese people’s resistance war against Japanese aggression and the world’s anti-fascist war.
During the visit, he held meetings with President Xi and Premier Li Qiang, where the two sides conducted in -depth discussions about bilateral ties and regional and international issues.
The visit ended with the release of the action plan to promote an even closer China-Pakistan community with a shared future in the new era (2025-2029).
Ambassador Jiang said the plan “is dedicated to building a China-Pakistan society with a common future with even stronger political mutual trust, closer economic and trading tapes, deeper security cooperation and a more solid popular basis”.
He noted that the plan would serve as “the general guideline, roadmap and construction plan to promote the strategic cooperation between All-Weather between our two countries at the moment and in the coming time”.
Ambassador Jiang emphasized that high -level confidence remained in the cornerstone of ties. He quoted President Xi and said, “China and Pakistan share an elastic bond, a brotherly bond and also a bond built on trust and common values - an iron -clad friendship that was forged through historical twists and turns and has grown ever stronger over time.”
He added that Prime Minister Shehbaz emphasized that “Pakistan-China Ironclad friendship has taken root in the heart of the over 200 million Pakistani people and that no force can shake this unbreakable bond”.
Over the past year, frequent high -level visits, including those of Prime Minister Shehbaz in June, former Prime Minister Li Qiang in October and President Zardari in February, “enabled our two sides to reach important general understandings of promoting strategic cooperation with all weather,” said Ambassador Jiang.
He also highlighted economic cooperation as a priority. He quoted President XI and said: “China supports Pakistan in maintaining unity, focusing on development and improving national strength. China is ready to work with Pakistan to build the China-Pakistanic Economic Corridor 2.0 and upgrade China-Pakistan Free Trade Agreement”.
He quoted large milestones this year, including the launch of the new Gwadar International Airport, the operation of the Chinese donated seawater sale, production at Rashakai Special Economic Zone and Pakistan’s PRSS-1 satellite launch from China.
Pakistani exports such as beef, seafood and fruit have also been given traction in Chinese markets, he noted.
