BEIJING: Pakistan and China on Thursday reaffirmed their commitment to further strengthen their “iron-clad, all-weather” strategic cooperative partnership during a meeting between Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Chinese Premier Li Qiang in Beijing.
The two leaders expressed satisfaction over the positive trajectory of bilateral relations and reiterated their resolve to expand cooperation across political, economic, and strategic domains.
Prime Minister Shehbaz extended gratitude to the Chinese leadership and people for their consistent support to Pakistan’s sovereignty, territorial integrity, and socio-economic development. He lauded China’s remarkable transformation under President Xi Jinping’s leadership, stressing Pakistan’s aspiration to learn from and replicate China’s development model.
Highlighting economic cooperation, Shehbaz underscored the vital role of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) in Pakistan’s development and called for early implementation of key projects including ML-I, the Karakoram Highway (KKH) realignment, and operationalization of Gwadar Port. Both sides agreed to accelerate work on the upgraded CPEC 2.0, with five new corridors.
The Prime Minister informed the Chinese Premier of Pakistan’s plan to issue Panda Bonds in China’s capital market and emphasized the vast potential for business-to-business (B2B) cooperation. He cited agriculture, minerals, textiles, IT, and the industrial sector as priority areas. Earlier in the day, over 300 Pakistani and 500 Chinese companies participated in a B2B Investment Conference in Beijing.
Shehbaz reaffirmed Pakistan’s support for President Xi’s global initiatives, including the Global Development Initiative, Global Security Initiative, Global Governance Initiative, and Global Civilization Initiative.
Both countries also agreed to mark the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations next year with special events. The leaders later attended the signing ceremony of multiple memorandums of understanding (MoUs) covering cooperation in CPEC 2.0, science and technology, IT, agriculture, media, and other sectors.
